More people should be encouraged to study African Diaspora heritage to help strengthen its future, leaders of a conference have concluded.

Members of the African Diaspora Heritage Trail were told they should make the most of students like the ones who have been taking notes during their discussions at Fairmont Southampton for the past week.

Moderator of the closing debate, cultural heritage expert James Early, of Washington, DC, said: "We need to be more aware that what we are doing is building a field. We need to put more people on scholarships. We need to write as well as just talk."

Since last weekend, representatives from 18 countries have heard a succession of speeches over three days about how African Diaspora can be researched and preserved. The group aims to develop destinations around the world which tell the story of African history.

As well as the need to enhance heritage studies, Mr. Early said one of the main themes of the week was the importance of terminology.

He said the Transatlantic Slave Trade should really be called the European Slave Trade, explaining: "It's as if the sea has done something to us."

Trail co-director Karen Spellman, also of Washington, spoke of the need for ministries to interact, and for project leaders to seek funding from sources other than their governments.

Antoine Bean, a volunteer from Citizens Uprooting Racism in Bermuda (CURB), said the week had given him a feeling of empowerment.

Mr. Bean told The Royal Gazette: "We do have our challenges in black communities around the world, but the sooner that we heal ourselves and stand in unity with everybody else in the world the better."

Expanding, he pointed to Bob Marley's call for blacks to emancipate themselves from mental slavery, saying barriers still remain in place today.