In Atlanta, Georgia John Collier's father, Charles Collier, was a prominent banker, businessman, and civic leader. John went to school at Columbia University and developed a social philosophy and became concerned about the adverse effects that the industrial age would have on people. He believed that American culture needed to have more of a sense of responisbility and community. In 1908 John wrote an article about the socialist municipal government in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The article was published in "Harper's Weekly". In 1919 John moved to California to work at California Housing and Immigration Commission. He organized institutes to train people to teach Americanization to immigrants.
In 1919 John was visiting a friend in Taos, New Mexico and had his first run in with American Indians. For the next two years he studided the history and moder day life of American Indians. He left Taos in 1921 to teach others about the American Indian's culture in San Francisco. John then tried to appeal the Indian General Allotment Act of 1887 which was going to divide up Indian reservation for private property. He thought it was a failure that would lead to an increase of loss of Indian land. This was a turning point in Indian affairs. He then attacked the Bureau of Indian Affairs which was the agency of the federal government of the United States within the US department of the interior.
For the next ten years John would fight against legislation and policies that were harmful to the well-being of Native Americans. His efforts resulted in the Meriam Report which was a monumental study in 1926-1927 of the conditions of Indians in the United States. It exposed problems with federal Indian policies and how it caused bad problems with Indian education, health, and poverty.After the Stock Market Crash of 1929, times were hard for everyone, including Native Americans. Collier was nominated by Roosevelt as Commissioner of Indian Affairs in 1933 so he set up the Indian Civilian Conservation Corps. This would give jobs to Native Americans in soil erosion control, forestation, range development, and other public works projects. He passed the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934 which gave land back to Native Americans in Oklohoma.
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