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When doctors urged Lois Fernandez to terminate her pregnancy more than five decades ago, they warned she might not survive childbirth. But Fernandez refused. “You are not God,” she told them.

Her daughter, Oshunbumi “Bumi” Fernandez-West, was born anyway — a moment her mother called a miracle. Named for the Yoruba goddess Oshun, Fernandez-West now leads the Odunde Festival, an annual celebration of African culture that her mother co-founded in 1975 after a life-changing trip to Nigeria.

This year marks the golden anniversary of the Odunde Festival — five decades of celebrating African heritage and s

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