American Indian Culture and Research Journal

The four decades prior to the release of the Meriam Report in 1928 and the appointment of John Collier as Commissioner of Indian Affairs in 1933 have not been viewed as a period of significant accomplishment by writers on Indian education. Indeed, it is possible to conclude, as Senator Edward M. Kennedy's Special Subcommittee on Indian Education concluded in 1969, that such a time has yet to arrive; that the Government's overall record on the subject has been a "failure of major proportions.'" Historians and other commentators on the Federal Government's record in Indian relations have properly viewed the comprehensive and highly respected Merian Report as a document which stimulated at least reform mindedness, if not lasting reform, by calling for an end to the Government's policy of de-Indianizing Indians, as well as a phasing out of grossly inadequate Government boarding schools Commissioner Collier is remembered for his determined and controversial efforts to implement the policy recommendations of the Merian Report, and for encouraging, albeit with minimal success, a rebirth of Indian culture, self-sufficiency, and self-determination. Collier's major achievement in education was the Johnson-O'Malley Act of 1934, an act which provided federal funding to qualifying states for educating Indian children in regular state supported public schools.