His Royal Highness Oba (King) Waja, Ofuntola Oseijeman Adelabu Adefunmi I, was born Walter Eugene King on October 5, 1928 in Detroit, Michigan, USA. He graduated from Cass Technical High School. Oba Waja’s exposure to African religion began when he became associated with the Katherine Dunham Dance Troupe at the age of 20. In that same year, Oba Waja traveled to Haiti. With his new found African understanding he found the order of Damballah Hwedo, Ancestor Priests in Harlem NY the following year.
On August 26, 1959, Oba Waja became the first African born in America to become fully initiated into the Orisa-Vodun African priesthood by African Cubans in Matanzas, Cuba. This marked the beginning of the spread of Yoruba religion and culture among African Americans. With a few followers, and after dissolution of the Order of Damballah Hwedo, Oba Waja found the Sango Temple in New York and incorporated the African Theological Arch
Ministry in 1960. The Sango Temple was relocated and renamed the Yoruba Temple the same year.
In the fall of 1970, Oba Waja found the Yoruba Village of Oyotunji in Beaufort County South Carolina, and began the careful reorganization of the Orisa-Vodu Priesthood along traditional Nigerian lines. He was initiated to the Ifa priesthood by the Oluwa of Ijeun at Abeokuta, Nigeria, in August of 1972. Baba Adefunmi was proclaimed Alase (Oba-King) of the Yoruba of N. America at Oyotunji Village in 1972.
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