The Oklahoma Indian Welfare Act of 1936 (also known as the Thomas-Rogers Act) is a United States federal law that extended the 1934 Wheeler-Howard or Indian Reorganization Act to include those tribes within the boundaries of the state of Oklahoma. The purpose of these acts were to rebuild Indian tribal societies, return land to the tribes, rejuvenate Indian governments, and emphasize Native culture. The Acts were the brain child of John Collier, commissioner of Indian affairs from 1933 to 1945, who wanted to change federal Indian policy from the "twin evils" of allotment and assimilation.
The Thomas-Rogers Act was adopted because congress had previously dissolved sovereign tribal governments in Oklahoma and Indian Territories to pave the way “for Oklahoma’s admission to the union on an ‘Equal footing with the original States." Prior to statehood, the land of the former reservations in Oklahoma was:
- allotted to individual Indian Tribal members
- held in trust by the United States for the benefit of tribal members, or
- otherwise disseminated to non-Indians in a series of land runs
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