Black Meetings and Tourism

Black Meetings & Tourism February/March 2009: www.blackmeetingsandtourism.com 21 T his past July, the 4th International African Diaspora Heritage Trail Conference (ADHT) was held at the Fairmont Southhampton in Bermuda. The theme of this year's gath- ering, "Catch the Fire! Identifying, Igniting and Connecting the Trails," edu- cated, informed and entertained the hun- dreds in attendance from throughout the Diaspora. The goal of ADHT is to establish her- itage trails linking Diaspora traditions by developing a network of collaborators who identify, build, finance, promote and market memorable heritage destina- tions. Distinguished government leaders, academics, heritage and tourism officials from Africa, the Caribbean, South and Central America and the United States participated in plenary sessions, cultural exchanges and a good give and take between panelist and attendees. The conference focused attention on our rich heritage and some of the challenges that lay ahead in its capture and preservation. Among the many distinguished speakers was, Dr. Howard Dodson, Director of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in New York City. Dodson made some rather salient remarks that actual- ly points to what ADHT is attempting to overcome. "With the exception of Ethiopia, Liberia and Haiti most peo- ple of African descent were living under some form of segregation or European colonialism at the beginning of the twentieth century." The result of this control was a history of Black Africans from the perspective of those who ruled. Part of the narrative was that Black Africans had no history. The work of researchers at the Schomburg Center is to disprove that myth. Dodson mentioned three extreme- ly important and verifiable facts that often go overlooked. One, all people of the world have some origin on the African continent. Two, the most advanced civilization in the ancient era was found on the African continent, Egypt. And three, all of us come from a common human foundation based in Africa. While I started this article with Dr. Dodson's remarks, I don't want to leave the impression that ADHT was dominat- ed by the thoughts of African- Americans. It was the participation of all those throughout the Diaspora that made ADHT a phenomenal success. The conference featured numerous case studies presented by officials and dignitaries from The Republic of Tanzania, Martinique, The Bahamas, Bermuda, Cape Verde, Senegal, Florida, Jamaica, South Africa and Ghana. Many of these sessions were moderated by Mr. James Counts Early, Director of Cultural Heritage Policy at the Smithsonian Institute and a consultant and head of Program and Content Development for ADHT. These case studies were designed, as Early said "to look at the richness, cul- ture and diversity across the Diaspora." "Who are we outside of our physical bor- ders?" One example Early pointed to in his opening remarks was Brazil. The largest Black African population in the world outside of Nigeria are Afro Brazilians – over 86 million strong. Afro Brazilians are often mistaken for Latin Americans. People assume they speak Spanish, when in fact their spoken lan- guage is Portuguese. Several brothers and sisters through- By Michael Bennett

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