An
African kingdom in America - Kingdom of Oyotunji, Nigeria
Special Issue: The Untold Story
of Blacks in the White House
By Beirne Keefer
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Pass
through the gates and enter the Kingdom of Oyotunji, Nigeria.
Capital of the Yoruba people of the Western Hemisphere,
Oyotunji welcomes visitors with a sign that reads, "You
are now leaving the United States and entering this Kingdom."
Once you have entered, you are, for all purposes, in Nigeria.
Oyotunji is a mysterious little village nestled snugly in
Beaufort County, S.C. Such modem cities as Charleston, S.C.,
to the north and Savannah, Ga., to the south are forgotten
in this 10-acre paradise of the Yoruba people. His Royal
Highness Oba Oseijeman, crowned in 1981 in Ife, Nigeria,
reigns over all Yorubas in the Western Hemisphere from this
post in South Carolina.
Make no mistake: This is a Yoruba kingdom, and its residents
practice a lifestyle that dates back more than 5,000 years.
"If you understand the Greeks and their religion, then
you'll understand the Yoruba," says my guide, Baba
Obafemi, priest of Osun and Ogungun. "Our ancient people
studied the planets, and our gods are named after those
heavenly bodies."
A slight but powerful man, Obafemi speaks in a soft, lyrical
voice. "Many scoff," he says. "Even many
African Americans have turned their backs on us and their
roots, but we celebrate our 25th anniversary this year.
We've had to struggle to build our village, but we have
followers from across the U.S. and Canada, and we'll continue
to grow."
He adds, with a twinkling eye, "Our women have never
needed the women's rights movement. They have always been
in charge."
According to Obafemi, not only do women dictate the homes
they and their new husbands will have, but husbands also
are required to have enough money to finance their wives
in the businesses they desire. For those and other reasons,
young women are allowed to marry in their early teenage
years, and they are allowed to marry men 10 to 15 years
their seniors. "They need older men who are established
in business and who can take care of them," says Her
Royal Grace Iya Orite.
Yoruba first took hold here in the 1960s. Oseijeman was
part of that movement, being one of the senior members of
the political group formed to start the Republic of New
Africa, an idea born in Harlem to promote a new Africa in
the United States by having the American people give them
five states. "We were searching for something to fill
in that great rupture in our heritage caused by slavery,
and many of us found it with the Yorubas," Oseijeman
explains.
Early on, Oseijeman saw that the movement was doomed to
failure. "There was too much idle talk about getting
a huge piece of the United States, and not enough on our
work ethics," he says. He knew that the only way to
return to his African roots was to find land, buy it and
build a Yoruba village. He and his followers founded their
village in swampy, overgrown and infested acreage in South
Carolina's southeastern low country because of one man--Martin
Delany.
It was Delany who, just after the Civil War, encouraged
newly freed blacks to solidify their freedom through the
acquisition and efficient management of land. Gen. William
T. Sherman had issued Special Field Order No. 15, setting
aside a portion of the low country rice coast south of Charleston
for the exclusive settlement of blacks. Delany, then an
agent of the Freedmen's Bureau in South Carolina, promoted
the idea that freedom was meaningless without a solid economic
base. Today, many black landowners in the immediate region
of the Yoruba village trace their ownership back to that
period. "So you see, we're right in the middle of that
history," says Obafemi.
In spite of rumors (a particularly vicious one is that any
white man caught on the property after dark never leaves
the village), the Yorubas are a hard-working, pleasant and
studious people who welcome everyone to spend a day, a weekend
or a year with them.
"We actively seek people to visit with us," says
Iya Orite. "It's the only way we can let people know
about our wonderful culture and lifestyle." Bierne
Keefer is a freelance travel writer in Clearwater, Fla.
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American Visions, Feb-March, 1995
Heritage Information Holdings, Inc.
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