John Collier and the Indian New Deal Essay - 2960 Words

John Collier and the Indian New Deal At the beginning of the 20th century, Native American culture was on the edge of extinction. Indians were at the bottom of the economic ladder. They had the lowest life expectancy rate, the highest infant mortality rate, the highest suicide rate and the highest rate of alcoholism than any other group in America. The Meriam Report of 1928, an 872-page study, laid the blame at the foot of the Federal Government. When President Franklin Delano Roosevelt took office 1933, a series of major reforms were implemented that would later come to be known as the â€Å"Indian New Deal†. An important chapter in contemporary Native American history was about to begin. This essay will outline the major elements of the†¦show more content†¦Taking his first step toward reform, Collier convinced President Roosevelt to abolish the Board of Indian Commissioners, an agency created during the Grant Administration to oversee the Bureau of Indian Affairs. The board long dominated by supporters of land allotment and assimilation policies, was a major obstacle to reform. Elimination of the agency was a deft political maneuver that allowed Collier a freer hand in implementing Indian New Deal policies. Soon thereafter, Collier pushed through Congress the Pueblo Relief Act of 1933. The measure provided additional payments to Pueblos and settlers who were inadequately compensated by the Pueblo Land Act of 1924. This marked a successful conclusion to a battle Collier had fought in previous years and the first of many legislative triumphs. As outlined in the Meriam Report of 1928, reservations in Arizona, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Montana and Washington were in dire need of conservation programs. Responding to these problems, Collier and Congress established the Indian Emergency Conservation Work (IECW) program, which provided $5.9 million dollars for the establishment of seventy-two work camps on over 30 reservations. The program employed Native Americans during the worst of the depression while at the same time allowing them to stay close to their families. With the support of the President firmlyShow MoreRelatedEssay on American Indians and World War II1345 Words   |  6 PagesCitizenship Act and the Indian New Deal. Alison R. Bernstein examines how the Second World War affected the status and lives of Native Americans in American Indians and World War II: Toward a New Era in Indian Affairs. Bernstein argues that natives’ experiences in the military and munitions factories reduced isolation by getting them off of reservations and increasing their contact with mainstream American society. 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