Luisah Teish is an African-American, born in
New Orleans,
Louisiana. Her father, Wilson Allen, Sr. was an African Methodist Episcopal whose parents had been two-generation servants and only one generation away from slavery. Her mother, Serena "Rene" Allen, was a Catholic, of
Haitian, French, and
Choctaw heritage. Her original ancestry also includes
Yoruba West African. In the late 1960s, Teish was a dancer in
Katherine Dunham's group, where she learned and performed traditional African and Caribbean dances. She led the dance troupe of the
Black Artists Group (BAG) in St. Louis after the departure of BAG's first dance leader, Georgia Collins. In the late 1970s she became an initiate and priestess of the
Lucumi religion, She currently resides in
Oakland,
California. One author said she was the "perhaps the most well known..
Yoruba priestess.. of the [San Francisco] Bay Area" (2010). Another author characterized her as "..well known internationally in Goddess circles as a writer and ritual-maker." == Bibliography ==