Collier set out to reform Indian policy after President Franklin D. Roosevelt appointed him to serve as the head of the BIA in 1933. The Collier era saw a dramatic change in the direction of U.S. American Indian policy, and that change would be initiated by the “Indian New Deal.”

John Collier was the U.S. Commissioner of Indian Affairs from 1933 to 1945. In this position he “hacked away at Government policy that called for ‘civilizing’ the Indian. He tried instead, to re-awaken interest in Indian art and music, folklore and custom” [1].

Collier led the opposition to the Bursum Bill of 1922, which would have taken 60,000 acres of treaty-guaranteed New Mexico lands away from the Pueblos. After successfully defeating the bill, Collier helped form the American Indian Defense Association and became its executive secretary.

In April 1933, President Franklin D. Roosevelt selected Collier to serve as commissioner of Indian affairs. With this appointment, Roosevelt offered a New Deal to Native Americans and provided Collier, who had an ally in First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, with the opportunity to put his ideas into practice.

The Indian New Deal, Collier’s chief realization, was landmark legislation authorizing tribal self-rule under federal supervision, putting an end to land allotment and generally promoting measures to enhance tribes and encouraging education.

As a result, the federal government enacted a Navajo Livestock Reduction program, which mandated that the Navajo sell or kill thousands of sheep. The Navajo deeply resented this act. They did not believe that their sheep threatened the soil and they did not trust the motives of government agents.

The Navajo Livestock Reduction was imposed by the United States government upon the Navajo Nation in the 1930s, during the Great Depression. The reduction of herds was justified at the time by stating that grazing areas were becoming eroded and deteriorated due to too many animals.

The Navajo were farmers who grew the three main crops that many Native Americans grew: corn, beans, and squash. After the Spanish arrived in the 1600s, the Navajo began to farm sheep and goats as well, with sheep becoming a major source of meat. They also hunted animals for food like deer and rabbits.

Who was right? Collier claimed that the Navajo had too many sheep on the Reservation was a form of social engineering. He was acting as a “guardian” and trying to control their independence by telling them what was right and what is wrong.

Although the act is seen by many Indians as a tool toward greater tribal independence, the IRA is rejected by the Navajo largely because it was masterminded by Commissioner of Indian Affairs John C. Collier. They are the first tribe to draft a constitution as called for in the new legislation.

At that time Native Americans had no livestock agriculture of their own — there were no domesticated animals in North America yet. Native Americans were still largely hunters and gatherers, but they quickly learned how to raise sheep both for the meat and the Churro’s thick, double-sided fleece and long haired wool.

In the early 1600s, Navajo acquisition of “la raza churra” sheep from the Spanish colonists inspired a radical lifestyle change to an agro-pastoralist way of life and expanded mobility.

In 1540 Coronado in his search for the mythical Seven Cities of Cibola brought the first Navajo-Churro Sheep to North America from Spain. These were the first sheep to come to the New World by way of the Spanish conquerors.

When the Spanish arrived in the Americas in the 16th century, they brought with them a particular breed of sheep: the Churro. This unique breed of sheep became crucial to Navajo life.

Wauneka said the sheep slaughter, aside from being a practical skill, was a symbolic reminder of the Navajo’s “Long Walk” in the mid-1860s, when thousands were forced to trudge 300 miles on foot from Fort Defiance, just north of Window Rock, to Fort Sumner in east central New Mexico.

The Navajo obtained sheep from the early settlers by trade and/or raid. The sheep had a significant effect on Navajo life and transformed them from a nomadic hunter and gather culture to one of farming and herding.

Sheep provided a dependable source of food and fibre for the nomadic Navajos. Weaving produced practical items, such as blankets, rugs and garments, and became an important expression of artistic creativity and spiritualism. SUMMARY Churro sheep became the mainstay of the Navajo economy for meat, fibre and income.

Sacred Sheep Revive Navajo Tradition, For Now For as long as anyone can remember, Churro sheep have been central to Navajo life and spirituality. Yet the animal was nearly exterminated by the federal government, which deemed it an inferior breed.

Breed description. The Navajo-Churro sheep is a small sheep with a long thin tail. The weight of the ewes ranges from 40 to 60 kg and the rams from 55 to 85 kg. The sheep have a double coat of fine under-wool (80% of total fleece weight) and coarse outer hair (20% of total fleece weight).

The Navajos used to make their houses, called hogans, of wooden poles, tree bark and mud. The doorway of each hogan opened to the east so they could get the morning sun as well as good blessings.