W. Richard West Jr. Richard West was the founding Director of the <a href="http://mallhistory.org/items/show/49">National Museum of the American Indian</a>, serving from the museum's opening in 2004 until 2007. West is a citizen of the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes of Oklahoma and a Peace Chief of the Southern Cheyenne. He has devoted much of his professional and personal life to American Indian cultural, educational, legal, and governmental issues. West supported a broad scope for the museum, representing the wide cultural and ethnic diversities of Native Americans, both through historical collections and exhibits and through living history presentations. <a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=39&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=W.+Richard+West+Jr.">W. Richard West Jr.</a> Wikimedia Commons. <a href="http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:WRichardWestJr.jpg">View original photograph</a>. <a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=38&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=2000-present">2000-present</a>