Year: 1983
Type: article
Abstract: Supreme Court of the United States ruled that Pueblo Indians of New Mexico, contrary to an earlier decision, had been subject to federal guardianship since 1848 and were, therefore, incapable of alienating their lands without federal approval.The Sandoval decision precipitated great consternation in New Mexico where thousands of non-Indians claimed ownership of former Pueblo lands by purchase from the Indians under the previous decision or by occupancy under New Mexico territorial statutes.For nine years a struggle ensued between Pueblos and non-Indians for title to the disputed lands, without resolution.Then, in 1922, Secretary of the Interior Albert B. Fall, Senator Holm O. Bursum, and attorney Ralph E. Twitchell, all New Mexicans, drew up a bill that would have awarded nearly all the disputed lands to non-Indians.John Collier, who had become enamored of the Pueblos following a visit to his long-time friend, Mabel Dodge, in Taos in 1920-21, was in California at the time of the drafting of this "notorious Bursum bill."There he had become a confidant of Mrs. Stella Atwood, a member of the General Federation of Women's Clubs (GFWC), who had recently become interested in the reform of federal Indian policy.Through Atwood, Collier was introduced to Mrs. Kate Vosburg, the wealthy heiress to the fortune of Jonathan S. Slosson, the founder of the city ofAzusa.In 1922 Vosburg agreed to finance Collier's activities in behalf of the GFWC reform program for a two-year period.In his official capacity as publicity agent for the GFWC, Collier returned to New Mexico
Author: Lawrence C. Kelly
Language: English
Subfield: Anthropology
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2405601838