George Washington University’s Marvin Center will be the center for the display of Yoruba culture on August 9, 1997. The first annual Moremi Festival in the United States, organized by Yoruba Youth International, will focus on the theme of Cultural Rediscovery.

The event is expected to draw hundreds of Yoruba youths mostly from American and European universities and will seek to investigate the content and meaning of the uniqueness of Yoruba culture and how it can impact on the progress and development of the people in Africa and in the Diaspora.

"We intend to put the Yoruba culture under an intense intellectual scrutiny, and our goal is to articulate a new message of discovery," says Muyiwa Gbadegesin, one of the organizers and a graduate student of neuroscience at Georgetown University in Washington.

A long line of events for this year’s Moremi Festival include exhibits, symposium on Yoruba history, art and culture, and a visit to the cemetery of the African-American slaves in Washington. "We believe the remains of many Yoruba people are there," remarked one of the organizers. Hafsat Abiola, an eminent young woman with many characteristics that are similar to the courage of Moremi in Yoruba history, will give an address on the challenges facing Yoruba youths and their responsibilities to the future of the Yoruba race in the new millenium.

Other highlights of the festival include a fashion show that will display the best in Yoruba vestiments and vogues, a performance of Wole Soyinka’s The Lion and the Jewel, performance by Yoruba drummers and dancers.