ABOVE PHOTO: Chief Obailumi Ogunseye
Chief Obailumi Ogunseye, was born Irvin “Irv” Columbus Garrett, the only child of Lillie Mae Garrett and Leon “Leo” Adams on Christmas Day, 1940 in North Carolina. He passed away peacefully in his sleep in the early morning hours of November 19, 2023, in Philadelphia, Pa. after a brief illness.
While his mother went to New York City to establish a better life, Irvin was raised in Wilson and Rocky Mount, North Carolina by his maternal grandmother, Dorothy Nancy Lee Jones, a businesswoman.
His grandmother owned and managed several restaurants over the years, and as young Irv grew, he began working with her by setting up tables and keeping the floors clean. As a youth, Irvin also enjoyed playing baseball with his friends, who called him “Reggie.” When he was in junior high school, his mother returned to North Carolina to retrieve her son and take him to Brooklyn, New York to live with her.
Irvin attended Boys High School in Brooklyn. Family members said he would often tell stories of watching future NBA Hall of Famer, Connie Hawkins, playing basketball outside in the schoolyard while he was in class.
Irvin wasn’t the best student, and at some point, dropped out of school and started running with a gang. He got arrested once and was taken to the Brooklyn Detention Center. It was a low moment in his young life, and he was so ashamed when he was released into his mother’s custody. Irvin swore that she would never have to do that again, and it was a promise that he kept.
Soon after that incident, he joined the United States Marine Corps in 1956 and headed to Parris Island, South Carolina for boot camp. He told family members that he didn’t enjoy his time in the Marines because of the rampant, overt racism, but he endured. However, he got a chance to travel to the Philippines, Japan and other ports in the Far East during the years leading up to the Vietnam conflict.
It was during this time that he purchased a record by Nigerian artist/activist Babatunde Olatunji. Olatunji’s 1959 hit album, “Drums of Passion,” is credited with awakening interest in African drumming and culture among countless African Americans nationwide during the 1960s. Irvin knew that this album would somehow play a part in his life, although at the time he didn’t quite know how.
After returning to the United States in 1960, Irvin became attracted to the Black Nationalist Movement and its Pan-African message of Black empowerment and self-sufficiency. He spent countless hours in Harlem listening to the various stepladder speakers on the corners of Lenox Avenue and 125th Street. He became an ardent follower of one of the lesser-known speakers who spoke of African Americans obtaining their own nation and sovereignty.
It was during this time he met “the Yorubas” at Cafe Nago in Harlem, run by Chief Akinbaloye (aka Piankhi). The Yorubas were a group of African Americans who practiced the spiritual culture of their ancestors — the Yoruba people of West Africa. Their charismatic leader, Oba Oseijeman Adelabu Adefunmi I, one of the first African Americans initiated into the Yoruba spiritual culture, had recently returned from Mantanzas, Cuba in August 1959. He gained Irv’s attention by also being a Black Nationalist. Oba Oseijeman believed that African Americans could never acquire their own nation and sovereignty worshipping another people’s god.
Oseijeman established and led several temples including the Yoruba Temple of Harlem in 1960 and later, the Oyotunji African Village in South Carolina in 1970. Irvin joined the African American Yoruba Movement in Harlem and was given the Yoruba name Obailumi Ogunseye — “Oba” for short, by his spiritual mentor Oba Oseijeman. He taught Obailumi the spiritual practices, language, customs, and culture of the Yoruba people.
Oseijeman became the father figure that young Irv never had. He encouraged young Obailumi to develop his artistic capabilities — drumming and dance. Obailumi eventually acquired his first chieftaincy title as a member of the Yoruba Temple of Harlem.
Obailumi was also mentored by Queen Mother Audley Moore, renowned Black Nationalist/reparations activist. In 1963, at the behest of Moore, Oba Oseijeman sent Chief Obailumi to Philadelphia to establish a Yoruba Temple.
Once in Philadelphia, Obailumi soon met Laura Fernandez, the woman who would later become his wife, while giving a lecture on African culture at Zion Baptist Church. Laura and her sister Lois were introduced to Obailumi after the lecture by longtime mutual friend, journalist Playthell Benjamin. After meeting Obailumi and becoming one of the early African American converts, Laura received the Yoruba name Omowunmi Ogundaisi from Oba Oseijeman.
Obailumi and Omowunmi opened a small temple in the 1600 block of South Street, where he began leading religious services, teaching Yoruba language and culture. The temple was the first of three that the couple established in Philadelphia. Together, they brought Yoruba spirituality to scores of African Americans in Philadelphia and beyond.
Chief Obailumi and Omowunmi were married in January 1965 at the home of her sister Lois by Oba Oseijeman. They welcomed their first child in July 1966. The following year, both were initiated into the Ìsese (Yoruba religion) priesthood during the first week of August in 1967. Obailumi was initiated to the Orisa Sango and Omowunmi to the Orisa Oshun. Together they embarked on building a life that was centered in Yoruba culture, education, and social activism. They raised seven children in the Yoruba culture, two of whom are priests. The couple later separated in 1988.
In 1974, Obailumi graduated from Temple University with a B.A. in education and completed his graduate studies in 1977 at Antioch College. Both Obailumi and Omowunmi were educators in the School District of Philadelphia. He taught at Jackson Elementary School and John P. Turner Middle School for most of his career in education. Obailumi taught history, and his curriculum always included studying the history of African people above and beyond what was required. It did not matter what nationality you were, in Mr. Garrett’s class you were going to learn about African and African American history. An accomplished self-taught artist, he illustrated “Baba Speaks of the Gods,” a children’s book about the Orisas written by his wife.
In 1975, Obailumi, along with his wife, sisters-in-law Lois and Victoria Fernandez, and friend Ruth Arthur, established the Oshun Festival that evolved into the world famous annual Odunde Afrikan Street Festival honoring the Orisa Oshun, the second Sunday in June on South Street in Philadelphia.
In 1996 he was initiated as a Babalawo (father of the secrets) in the sacred city of Ilè-Ifè Nigeria, West Africa. It was there that Obailumi was bestowed his second chieftaincy title of “Chief Ojugbona Awo of Ilè-Ifè,” by the elders and traditional priests of Ìsèse. After returning to the US, he continued to spread knowledge of the Yoruba spiritual culture in Oregon and Washington state. Although he was raised without a father figure in his birth family, he grew to become a father figure to many throughout the nation and world. Chief Baba, as he was affectionately called by his children and others, became godfather to many by initiating them into the Ìsese religious culture. He was known for his vast knowledge of the culture and down to earth sense of humor.
In 2003, he officiated the libation rituals in commemoration of the African ancestors connected to colonial Philadelphia’s Old City during the “Trail of Tears and Blood” protest march led by historian Charles L. Blockson and community activists.
In 2010, he was honored at Oyotunji African Village in Sheldon, South Carolina, for his contributions as one of the last elders of the African American Yoruba Movement and upholding the culture. Chief Obailumi lectured on African culture at many colleges and universities. He was in demand as a priest and performed many weddings, funerals, and baby naming ceremonies, as well as divinations and spiritual work for people all over the US.
He eventually relocated to north Florida and established an African American Yoruba religious community there known as Egbé T.A.C. (Traditional African Culture). Chief Baba is respected and beloved by his godchildren for his genuine concern, sharing his knowledge freely and making sure they were on the right path.
Chief Obailumi Ogunseye is predeceased by his wife and a son, Omorishanla A. Olayinka. He is survived by seven children, 22 grandchildren, three great-grandchildren and many spiritual/god children.
Services were held December 9, 2023 at Slater Funeral Home in Philadelphia. The interment took place at historic Eden Cemetery.
Leave a Comment