REMEMBERING THE CHILDREN 

MEMORIAL BOULDERS

An individual boulder will be engraved with the name of each of the over fifty children that passed away at the Rapid City Indian Boarding School that the team is aware of. The boulders are symbolic as rocks are sacred in Lakota culture, they represent the “grandfathers” and are central in the creation story of the Lakota as well as used in ceremony. By using individual boulders, we will also be able to add more children as more of the names are identified in the future. Each boulder will be placed alongside the walking path at the top of the memorial.

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Kathy Whitman, an esteemed artist from the Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara (MHA) Nation, has lovingly carved the names of each child who died at the Rapid City Indian School, embellishing them with floral motifs and other symbols. As a grandmother, Kathy’s heart broke knowing these children passed far from home, care, and family, and through her work, she surrounds them with the tenderness  and care they were denied in boarding schools. The memorial path created ascends the hill as a living timeline, beginning at its base with the first recorded death, Mabel Holy, whose family is deeply honored to share her memory with the community. The trail is laid with a pink and red gravel mix, symbolizing the journey of walking the Red Road as ascending the hill.

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Plans for an installation at the top of the hill are in the works! 

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