Join US Black Heritage Connecting Challenge--April 2023 [closed]

+16 votes
2.0k views

      US Black Heritage Project's

        Connecting Challenge

       We're well on our way!

 We met the US Black Heritage Project's goal of reaching 150,000 African-American profiles in the year 2022 early! Now we're well on our way to hitting our 2023 goal of 250,000 profiles and we'll help reach it by continuing the Connecting Challenge. It is similar to the WikiTree Connect-a-Thon with a few exceptions. Please read our challenge space page for all the rules.

Who can participate? Any WikiTree member who has upgraded from guest and has signed the honor code

Start/End: This Challenge is a month long. We begin on the first of each month and end at midnight EST on the last day of each month.

A participant sticker will be available to all members who join in for at least one of the months. Special stickers will be awarded to all participants who create at least 25 profiles in a month. A Winner's sticker will be given to the top contributor each month.

To Partipate:

  • Read the rules please!
  • Click on the "answer" button below my name on this post to declare you want to participate.
  • Start with an existing profile and create a family member attached to that profile. Keep adding as many family members up, down, and sideways on the tree as you can. Each new profile is one point.
  • Make sure the research is correct! Use primary documents to find and prove relationships.
  • Add the {{African-American Sticker}} to any profiles of Black Americans who lived in the USA, so the project can keep track of the profiles and honor their heritage.
  • Add at least one strong source to every profile.
  • Use the Challenge Tracker to keep track of every new profile you create for this challenge. It will count the total for you automatically. If you discover you forgot to track some, you can list them here to count.
  • Repeat.
  • If you are working on enslaved ancestors, every new slave profile you link to a slave owner using the USBH Project's guidelines, counts as a connected profile. See the Heritage Exchange Portal for more information.

Have questions? Please ask.

Only have time for a few profiles? Please join us! Every contribution gets us closer to our goal.

Do you need some profiles to get you started? 

If you are already on the WikiTree Discord server, you should have access to the US Black Heritage Connecting Challenge channel. If you can't access it, please send me a message.

Thanks for growing our tree!


  • Our March Challenge total: 3452
  • Total count of profiles as of March 26: 189,386 
  • March Winners: Nanette Pezzutti, AM Hayes, Miyako Jones, Carolyn Martin, Teresa Davis
closed with the note: Please see May's post here: https://www.wikitree.com/g2g/1575626/join-us-black-heritage-connecting-challenge-may-2023
in The Tree House by Emma MacBeath G2G Astronaut (1.3m points)
closed by Emma MacBeath
If West Indians moved to US should they have the sticker for African Ancestry or African-American? Some naturalise, some don't... and part of me is loathe to subsume the Caribbean aspect...
Hi D, here's what we do in USBH--if they were born elsewhere, but lived in the USA and they have African heritage, the get {{African-American Sticker}}. Using this sticker is the only way we can count our profiles and find them in reports.

However, we also don't want to ignore their birth heritage, so we love to add other heritage stickers as well, including "born in" stickers and "roots" stickers.

We are continuing to create stickers for the Caribbean, and will begin to add African stickers soon as well. I'm sending you a message about Barbados and why it took me so long to get it created. It will be ready today. The next stickers I'll be able to make the same day they are requested.

28 Answers

+15 votes

Woo hoo! We're so close to 200,000 profiles!

Don't forget that any USBH profiles/families you create during the April Connect A Thon also count for this challenge (Enslaved ancestors connected only to the slave owner don't count for the Connect A Thon). You can either use the challenge tracker during that weekend or post your list here after the weekend is over. 

by Emma MacBeath G2G Astronaut (1.3m points)
+14 votes
Please add me, thanks!
by Elaine Martzen G2G6 Pilot (242k points)

Thanks, Elaine!smiley

+13 votes
I'm in it!
by Kate Schmidt G2G6 Pilot (153k points)

Thanks, Kate!smiley

+13 votes
I’m in! Thank you ❤️
by Charles Uzzell G2G6 Mach 1 (14.5k points)

Thanks, Charles!smiley

+13 votes
please me me to the participants.
by N Gauthier G2G6 Pilot (344k points)

Thanks, N!smiley I saw you were working on one of our largest unconnected branches. 

yes it should show connected by April 2

Woo hoo! that's four branches knocked out from March! Thanks so muchsmiley

+13 votes
I'm in, as always!
by Carolyn Martin G2G6 Pilot (310k points)

Thanks, Carolyn!smiley

+15 votes
I am in again!
by Lisa Murphy G2G6 Pilot (374k points)

Thanks, Lisa!smiley

+13 votes
Please add me to April! Thanks Emma!!
by Gina Jarvi G2G6 Pilot (175k points)

Thanks, Gina!smiley

+13 votes
I'm in again, thanks Emma!
by Denise E G2G6 Pilot (117k points)

Thanks, Denise!smiley

+13 votes

Count me in for April ! blush

by Teresa Davis G2G6 Mach 6 (66.3k points)

Thanks, Teresa!smiley The challenge tracker should behave better this month. Ales got a new server that he says is even faster. 

+13 votes
I'm still in!  Gonna take a lot to get to our new goal: 2 Million!

But how do you eat an elephant?  One bite at a time.

How do you get 2,000,000 African-American profiles into WikiTree?  One (well sourced) profile at a time!
by Bartley McRorie G2G6 Pilot (194k points)

too many zeroes Bartley wink

heading for 200 thousand first haha!

Thanks, Bartley!smiley Let's get out the forks and knives. Haha!

@D, we are thinking big! As I always say, go big or go home. In other words, if we're going to build this huge database, why not make it as big as we can possible imagine?

+11 votes
I'LL PLAY.
by Cossy Ksander G2G6 Mach 3 (37.1k points)

Big smile. Thanks, Cossy!smiley

+11 votes
Count me in for April, I think we can hit 200,000 this month!
by Katie Bryant G2G6 Mach 8 (84.5k points)

I know we can! Thanks, Katiesmiley

+11 votes
Please sign me up for April!
by Terry Fillow G2G6 Pilot (106k points)

Thanks, Terry!smiley

+11 votes
Please add me.
by Miyako Jones G2G6 Mach 5 (55.3k points)

Thanks, Miyako!smiley

+11 votes
I'm in! Looking forward to another month of connections!
by Amy Johnson G2G6 Mach 8 (85.7k points)

Thanks, Amy!smiley

+10 votes
Please add me to the challenge.

Thanks!
by A. Pearl Anonymous G2G6 (8.0k points)

Thanks!smiley

+10 votes
In for the month
by Jennifer Robins G2G6 Pilot (310k points)

Thanks, Jennifer!smiley

+8 votes
Hi Emma, I'm planning to continue this great project!
by Susan Pearson G2G6 Mach 1 (19.0k points)

Thanks, Susan!smiley

+8 votes
Please count me in.
by Suzanne Dyck G2G6 Mach 2 (28.1k points)

Thanks, Suzanne!smiley

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