1934The American Association on Indian Affairs
is founded.
At the request of Commissioner of Indian Affairs
John C. Collier, Oliver La Farge, the board presi-
dent of the Eastern Association on Indian Affairs
(see entry for OCTOBER 1922), merges his organi-
zation with another Indian rights advocacy group,
the American Indian Defense Association (see entry
for MAY 1923), to form the American Association
on Indian Affairs (later renamed the Association on
American Indian Affairs.) La Farge will serve as the
association’s president until his death in 1963.
April 16
The Johnson-O’Malley Act reforms Indian
education.
The first piece of legislation to emerge from the re-
formist campaign of Commissioner John C. Collier
(see entry for 1933), the Johnson-O’Malley Act al-
lows the federal government to enter into contracts
with states to offer various benefits to Indian groups,
specifically education, health care, agricultural assis-
tance, and social services. The act will have its greatest
impact on Indian education. With the redirection of
educational funds, Indian students will increasingly
leave Indian schools run by the Bureau of Indian
Affairs to attend public educational institutions.
June 18
The Indian Reorganization Act reforms
federal Indian policy.
Perhaps the most important legislation affecting
Indians in the 20th century, the Indian Reorganiza-
tion Act sets forth a comprehensive plan to reform
federal Indian policy and reorganize the Bureau of
Indian Affairs (BIA). The IRA is the brainchild of
John C. Collier, a longtime Indian rights activist
and the new commissioner of Indian affairs. Be-
cause the act reflects the progressive agenda of the
Roosevelt administration, it is popularly known as
the Indian New Deal. (It is also called the Wheeler-
Howard Act, after its sponsors, Senator Burton K.
Wheeler and Congressman Edgar Howard.)
The IRA’s most significant provision calls for
the end of the Allotment policy, which in the past
50 years has dispossessed Indians of some 90 million
acres of land. The act also requires the U.S. govern-
ment to return to tribes all unsold surplus lands on
allotted reservations, establishes a fund to purchase
additional land for Indian groups, and creates a pro-
gram to conserve and rehabilitate tribal lands.
In addition, the IRA offers guidelines by which
tribes can write constitutions and reorganize their
governments. To promote economic and com-
munity development, tribes are also permitted to
incorporate and to request loans from a fund set up
for this purpose. Individual Indians may take out
loans from the Bureau of Indian Affairs to finance
their educations, and they are to be given preference
in hiring for BIA jobs.
Before passing the IRA, Congress adds a pro-
vision that tribes must vote on whether to accept
or reject the act’s provisions. Eventually, more than
two-thirds of Indian nations will accept the IRA.
(A notable exception will be the largest U.S. tribal
group, the Navajo [Dineh], who resent Collier’s
efforts to prevent erosion of reservation lands by re-
ducing their sheep herds [see entries for 1933 and
for 1935]). Thirty-six percent of tribes will write
new constitutions based on IRA guidelines, while
28 percent will incorporate for business purposes.AugustThe American Indian Federation is formed.
Formed in Gallup, New Mexico, by several wealthy
Indian conservatives who advocate Assimilation,
the American Indian Federation is founded to
speak out against the views of the new commis-
sioner of Indian affairs John C. Collier (see entry
for 1933), a political liberal who wants to revive
Indian tribalism. The AIF’s ultimate goal, however,
is to bring about the dismantling of the Bureau of
Indian Affairs (BIA). Although it receives support
from several right-wing organizations (including
the Daughters of the American Revolution), the