Dignity: Of Earth and Sky

She stands 50 feet tall on a bluff above the Missouri River, a stainless steel figure of a Native American woman extending a star quilt toward the sky. Sculptor Dale Claude Lamphere designed her to honor the Lakota and Dakota peoples — nations whose sacred connection to this land survived the Fort Laramie Treaty's betrayal, the gold rush, and forced relocation. Norm and Eunabel McKie of Rapid City funded the work as a gift to South Dakota in 2014, marking the state's 125th anniversary. Dedicated in September 2016, she stands illuminated at night, visible from Interstate 90.