Africa in South Carolina: The Oyotunji African Village.

Oyotunji African village, a Yoruba Kingdom.

For the longest time, Africa, a continent with 55 countries and countless cultures, was seen as underdeveloped.

In the late 1950s, Walter King (later known as Oba Adefunmi I) travelled to West Africa, Nigeria, and was amazed by the beautiful culture, Yoruba culture, and Orisa traditions. He felt Africans in America, African diaspora communities, were living a different reality, far from home and living like strangers in a western world.

He came up with a decision and built a kingdom that looked exactly like the Oyo Empire he saw in history books. He brought Africa to the Africans far from home, African heritage in America, African identity preservation.

Residents of Oyotunji living daily life in Yoruba language, dress, and spirituality.

By 1970, he built the Oyotunji African Village in South Carolina, USA. South Carolina is hot and humid, similar to parts of West Africa, because Africans brought to America during slavery landed in South Carolina, and their descendants, the Gullah people, kept a lot of African traditions alive, Gullah culture, African retention in America.

In Oyotunji Kingdom, there are no mayors or governors. It is fully operated the Yoruba way, traditional African governance. There is an Oba (a king), with the council of chiefs and elders, Yoruba monarchy system.

About language, Yoruba is the official language in Oyotunji, Yoruba language in diaspora, and even non-Africans speak it and live just like Africans, African lifestyle abroad.

They bear names like Orisabunmi and preserve cultures and histories like Ṣàngó, Obatala, Osun, Yoruba deities, Orisa, Olokun temple, etc...

Olokun temple in Oyotunji Kingdom.

Everyone is dressed in traditional African attire like Gèlè, Agbadá, Fìlà, African fashion and identity. They also farm their lands and hold ceremonies like the Obatala festival and Isese festival to honour the spirits and gods of their forefathers, African spirituality and tradition.

This just shows that Africa is beautiful and can thrive anywhere, African culture has global influence, regardless of limitations. They don't act like Africans in Oyotunji, they live it. That is their reality.

2026 Bernice Temitayo Olusaiye | Talkafricang.com