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United Methodists Participate In Opening Of National Museum


The involvement and participation of Native American United Methodists was evident during the grand opening of the National Museum of the American Indian in Washington D.C. in September.
The founding director of the museum, Dr. Richard West, Jr., Southern Cheyenne, is a member of Metropolitan United Methodist Church in Washington D.C. Dr. West and his family have been members of the church for about 25 years.
 

The inaugural ceremonies featured a procession of approximately 20,000 Native Americans down the Mall and a First American Festival that lasted throughout the following weekend.
 

In a presentation held at his church on Sunday, September 26, Dr. West told the packed house that he was glad he agreed to head this project many years ago, when he was much younger because of the time and effort involved in the creation of the museum. He talked of the countless trips and meetings with Native peoples across this country to get their ideas and suggestions on the new museum.
 

“There is something about the very term ‘museum’ that seems inherently retrospective because it is talking about preserving and conserving and going to see objects on the walls,” Dr. West said in an interview with The Connection, the newspaper of the Baltimore-Washington Annual Conference.
 

“I really see, notwithstanding our name, the National Museum of the American Indian as being an international institution of living cultures and hemisphere.”
 

Rev. David Wilson, Conference Superintendent was the guest preacher for that Sunday at Metropolitan UMC, which focused on Dr. West and the opening of the Museum.
 

“It was an honor to be the preacher for the day, and to be a small part of this historic occasion in the life of this country,” Rev. Wilson said. “Dr. West is a person that has done much for the life of our people through the development and realization of this museum,’ he added.
 

During his visit, Rev. Wilson presented Dr. West with a replica of the print by Cherokee artist, John Walkabout, which featured Turtle Fields, the first Cherokee Methodist Minister in 1822.
 

Rev. Wilson visited the museum and said it was an amazingly beautiful place. “What I liked about it was the fact that it wasn’t like an ordinary museum, because it featured Native peoples in the present as well as the future.”
 

Wilson said one of the short movies featured young Ponca dancers and the film included several United Methodists, including the late Rev. Dr. Thomas Roughface. In another short film, the Salt Creek United Methodist Church is highlighted.
 

In order to maintain the thousands of weekly visitors, several Native American Interns were hired to work throughout the museum from August until the end of this year, Wilson said. At least two of the interns are United Methodists. Kim Jackson, a member of Fife Memorial in Muskogee and Martina Minthorn, a member of Petarsy UMC near Lawton are serving as interns.
 

Martina was teaching at the Comanche College in Lawton but said when she heard of this opportunity; she could not pass it up. “It has been a great experience and I am loving it,” she said.
 

Kim Jackson said the interns went through a thorough orientation process to prepare for the opening of the museum and worked very long days to prepare for the opening of the museum. “It has been exciting to see so many people go through the museum and to be a part of this historic opening” she said.
 

Rev. Wilson said he has spoken with many OIMC members who attended the opening of the museum. Several attended with their tribes and many also attended out of the excitement of this event, he said.
 

The museum is free and is open throughout the year.