P
AIF will fall into disarray in the mid-1940s after the
group’s repeated efforts to destroy the BIA fail.
1935The Navajo (Dineh) reject the Indian
Reorganization Act.
The largest tribe in the United States, the Navajo
(Dineh) vote against adopting a constitution and
creating a tribal government under the guidelines
set out in the Indian Reorganization Act (IRA) (see
entry for JUNE 18, 1934). Although the act is seen
by many Indians as a tool toward greater tribal inde-
pendence, the IRA is rejected by the Navajo largely
because it was masterminded by Commissioner of
Indian Affairs John C. Collier. The tribe blames
Collier for formulating the much-resented livestock-
reduction policy, through which Bureau of Indian
Affairs employees have confiscated or killed many of
the Navajo’s sheep and horses (see entry for 1933).
January 24
The Santa Clara Pueblo adopt a written
constitution.
Traditionally, the Santa Clara Pueblo were led by
the headmen of the summer kiva group in spring
and summer and by those of the winter kiva group
in fall and winter. By the 1930s, relations between
the two groups have deteriorated as the Summers
became more conservative and the Winters become
more progressive. To re-create their ailing govern-
ment, the Santa Clara embrace the guidelines for
forming tribal councils as set out in the Indian
Reorganization Act (see entry for JUNE 18, 1934).
They are the first tribe to draft a constitution as
called for in the new legislation.
August 15
Cherokee humorist Will Rogers dies in a
plane crash.
The American public is stunned and saddened by the
news that Will Rogers has been killed in a plane crash
in Alaska. A star of vaudeville, theater, and film, Rog-
ers at the time is the most famous Native American
in the United States as well as one of the country’s
most beloved performers. His funeral in Los Angeles
will be attended by an astounding 50,000 mourn-
ers. A smaller service will be held in Claremont,
Oklahoma, the small town in the former Cherokee
Nation where Rogers was born and raised.“They sent the Indians to Okla-
homa. They had a treaty that
said, ‘You shall have this land as
long as grass grows and water
flows.’ It was not only a good
rhyme but looked like a good
treaty, and it was till they struck
oil. Then the government took
it away from us again. They said
the treaty only refers to ‘water
and grass; it don’t say anything
about oil.’”
—Cherokee humorist Will Rogers
in a 1928 syndicated columnAugust 27Congress establishes the Indian Arts and
Crafts Board.
“To promote the development of Indian arts and
crafts,” Congress creates the Indian Arts and Crafts
Board as a new agency under the Department of
the Interior. Another goal of the board is to prevent
non-Indian artisans from marketing their works as
Indian-made.
The board’s first general manager, Rene
d’Harnoncourt, begins surveying Indian country
to determine which Indian arts are still being pro-
duced. Working for the board over the next 26 years,
he will encourage Indian artists to produce items of
the highest possible quality and will organize several