An African kingdom in America - Kingdom of Oyotunji, Nigeria; Special Issue: The Untold Story of Blacks in the White House

Pass from one side the gates and enter the Kingdom of Oyotunji, Nigeria. Capital of the Yoruba clan of the Western Hemisphere, Oyotunji welcomes visitors with a sign that reads, "You are now leaving the United States and entering this Kingdom." one time you have entered, you are, for all views in Nigeria. Oyotunji is a mysterious little village nestl safely in Beaufort County, S.C. like modem cities as Charleston, SC to the north and Savannah, Ga., to the southern are forgotten in this 10-acre paradise of the Yoruba clan His Royal Highness Oba Oseijeman, diademed in 1981 in Ife, Nigeria, reigns above all Yorubas in the Western Hemisphere from this support in South Carolina.

Make no mistake: This is a Yoruba kingdom, and its residents practice a lifestyle that dates back more than 5000 years. "If you understand the of greeces and their religion, then you'll understand the Yoruba," says my guide, Baba Obafemi, priest of Osun and Ogungun "Our ancient race studied the planets, and our the creators are named after those heavenly bodies."

A slight on the other hand powerful man, Obafemi speaks in a yielding lyrical voice. "Many scoff," he says. "Even many African Americans have revolveed their backs on us and their bottoms but we celebrate our 25th anniversary this year. We've had to do one's best to build our village, on the other hand we have followers from across the U and Canada, and we'll continue to grow"

He adds, with a twinkling organ of sight "Our women have never emergencyed the women's rights movement. They have always been in charge."

According to Obafemi, not alone do women dictate the abodes they and their new husbands will have, on the contrary husbands also are required to have enough circulating medium 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 ne older men who are established in business and who can take care of them," says Her Royal Grace Iya Orite.

Yoruba first took grasp here in the 1960s. Oseijeman was part of that motion being one of the senior members of the political clump formed to start the Republic of of recent origin Africa, an idea born in Harlem to aid a new Africa in the United States through having the American people give them five states. "We were searching for something to fill in that great disruption in our heritage caused by dint of slavery, and many of us lay the foundation of it with the Yorubas," Oseijeman explains.

Early upon Oseijeman saw that the change was doomed to failure. "There was too a great quantity [i]or[/i] amount of idle talk about getting a cyclopean piece of the United States, and not enough upon our work ethics," he says. He knew that the single way to return to his African foundations was to find land, purchase it and build a Yoruba village. He and his followers placeed their village in swampy, overgrown and infested acreage in southerly Carolina's southeastern low country because of single man--Martin Delany.

It was Delany who, just after the Civil War, encouraged newly fre blacks to solidify their freedom end the acquisition and efficient management of land. Gen William T Sherman had issued Special Field Order No. 15 setting aside a portion of the depressed country rice coast south of Charleston for the exclusive adjustment of blacks. Delany, then an agent of the Freedmen's Bureau in southern 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 diocese we're right in the middle of that history," says Obafemi.

In spite of rumors (a particularly vicious individual is that any white man caught upon the property after dark not at any time leaves the village), the Yorubas are a hard-working, pleasant and studious nation who welcome everyone to part with a day, a weekend or a year with them.

"We actively search for people to visit with us," says Iya Orite. "It's the solitary way we can let tribe know about our wonderful agriculture and lifestyle." Bierne Keefer is a freelance travel writer in Clearwater, Fla.

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