Korczak Ziolkowski was born September 6, 1908, in Boston, nearly 34 years after the death of the famous Indian chief, Crazy Horse.
Orphaned when he was a year old, Korczak was raised in foster homes and never received formal training in art. As a teenager, he was apprenticed to a ship builder as a woodcarver. By age 20, he had progressed to become a furniture maker and eventually an award-winning sculptor, living in Connecticut.
In 1939, he took a job as an assistant in the project of carving the presidential monument at Mt. Rushmore in South Dakota. There, he met many Indians living in the area. Eventually, he was approached by several Lakota chiefs about creating a similar memorial honoring Native Americans. Korczak soon agreed to use his talent in the project.
In 1947, he settled in the Black Hills and began searching for a suitable mountain for the carving. Its subject was to be Crazy Horse, and the first blast for the sculpture took place the following year.
For nearly 36 years, Korczak labored on the ambitious project, persevering despite racial prejudice and financial hardship, and taking no salary.
He died of a heart attack at the site on October 20, 1982. His family continues the work of carving Crazy Horse today. When it is completed, the monumental sculpture will be 563 feet tall and 641 feet long.
- Little Burgundy Book, Diocese of Saginaw