Facts on File - Encyclopedia of World History Vol 5 - Crisis and Achievement - 1900 to 1950
Indian Reorganization Act, U.S.
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Indian Reorganization Act, U.S The session was important as the congress passed resolutions on basic fundamental rights and launched key economic programs The British did not accept the congress demand of complete independence, and Gandhi was arrested in January 1932 after returning to India The congress took part in the elections of 1937 per the provisions of the Government of India Act of 1935 and performed very well in the general constituencies At the time of World War II it sympathized with the victims of Nazism and fascism The blitzkrieg by Japan in Southeast Asia had brought the war to India’s doorstep The AICC passed the famous resolution of “Quit India” on August 8, 1942, and Nehru said that it was a “fight to finish.” With a motto to “do or die,” the Quit India movement began and was suppressed with the utmost force The postwar scene was marked by devastating economic consequence of the war, the spread of communalism and communal riots, Jinnah’s indomitable quest for control of Pakistan, and the congress’s desire for a compromise Great Britain finally decided to leave India, which it could not hold with diminished resources, and ordered elections to central and provincial legislatures The congress captured all the general seats in the center and obtained a majority in all the provinces except Sind, the Punjab, and Bengal Between 1945 and 1947 there were serious revolts by peasants and workers The league was determined in its demand for partition of the country In September 1946 an interim government was formed by the congress The British prime minister, Clement Attlee (1883–1967), had declared that the British would quit India A compromise formula was finally worked out by the viceroy Lord (Louis) Mountbatten (1900–79) in his talks with the leaders of the congress and the league It was announced in June 1947 that India and Pakistan would be independent from British colonial rule on August 15, 1947 Further reading: Bandyopadhyay, Sekhar From Plassey to Partition New Delhi: Orient Longman, 2004; Burke, Samuel M., and Salim Al-Din Quraishi British Raj in India: An Historical Review Karachi: Oxford University Press, 1997; Chandra, Bipan, et al India’s Struggle for Independence New Delhi: Penguin, 1989; Chopra, P N A Comprehensive History of Modern India New Delhi: Sterling Publishers, 2003; Judd, Denis The Lion and the Tiger: The Rise and Fall of the British Raj 1600–1947 New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2004; Lawrence, James The Rise and Fall of the British Empire London: Abacus, 1998; Masselos, Jim Indian 167 Nationalism: An History New Delhi: Sterling Publishers, 1985; Mehrotra, S R The Emergence of the Indian National Congress New Delhi: Rupa, 2004; Nanda, B R Three Statesmen: Gokhale, Gandhi, Nehru New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2004; Pati, Budheswar India and the First World War New Delhi: Atlantic, 2000; Sarkar, Sumit Modern India 1885–1947 New Delhi: Macmillan, 1989; Stein, Burton A History of India Malden, MA: Blackwell, 1998 Patit Paban Mishra Indian Reorganization Act, U.S This 1934 legislation, also known as the WheelerHoward Act, was a New Deal program that significantly reshaped, in mostly positive ways, federal policies concerning the Native American population Spearheaded by reformer John Collier, the Indian Reorganization Act (IRA) empowered tribal leaders, recognized the legitimacy of Indian customs and culture, and preserved Indian land rights It was not, however, a final “fix” in the tortured four-century history of white and Native interaction By 1900, 10 years after the last battle between federal troops and Sioux Indians at Wounded Knee, South Dakota, the U.S Native population had dwindled to 237,000 By 1934 Native land holdings had declined by two-thirds, to 7,500 square miles Although in 1924 all Natives had been granted U.S citizenship, the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) continued to supervise every aspect of Natives’ lives, while states with large native populations regularly imposed special restrictions on them Efforts to separate and “civilize” Indian children continued at places like the Carlisle, Pennsylvania, and Albuquerque, New Mexico, Indian Schools Sympathetic whites, beginning with Helen Hunt Jackson in 1881 and Charles Lummis in the 1890s, took up the Indian cause in books and articles that caused a sensation but had minimal effect on actual Natives except often to romanticize their history and plight Lummis was able to interest his Harvard classmate Theodore Roosevelt in some Indian issues John Collier, likewise born to wealth, was educated at Columbia University and in Paris In 1919 he first encountered the “Indian problem” while visiting artist and heiress Mabel Dodge Luhan in New Mexico (She had married Tony Luhan, a Pueblo Indian.) Collier soon came to oppose forced Americanization programs and attacked the competence and honesty of