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ANNOUNCEMENTS:
- Our first Instructional Videos are uploaded! Bookmark our Instructional Videos page and watch for more videos on how to use WikiTree and how to work on US Black Heritage and enslaved ancestor profiles.
- Read the September 2025 Newsletter for the latest updates and announcements, and to learn more about the USBH Project and its members.
- Bookmark the US Black Heritage Project's Calendar to keep up with the latest weekly, monthly, and special events including the USBH Connecting Challenge, Weekend Sprints, and the Monthly Featured Unconnected Notables Challenge.
- If you have questions about documenting slavery at WikiTree or finding enslaved ancestors, please click on the Heritage Exchange Portal tab below for answers.
- Top Level Project: United States
- Project Leaders: Emma MacBeath, Denise Jarrett, Elaine (Weatherall) Martzen
- Coordinators: Gina Jarvi (Heritage Exchange, New Members), Katie Bryant (Notables, Connectors) & Kate Schmidt (Notables, Profile Improvement)
- Answer our G2G welcome post to join the US Black Heritage project and get a badge.
- Add black_heritage to your followed tags.
- We use US Black Heritage Exchange Google Group for communication.
- View the US Black Heritage Project Member List and see what our members are working on.
Contents |
Our Mission
This project is a sub-project of the United States Project.
- To collect in one place information and resources to assist in building and documenting African-American Genealogies.
- To create the largest online public database of connected African-American families.
- To bring together WikiTreers interested in connecting African-American families to the Global Family Tree.
- To process all types of documents regarding free and enslaved ancestors with the goal of creating their profiles and connecting them to their descendants.
- To provide and maintain a logical and organized structure to help individuals identify their ancestors and celebrate their history.
- To improve all profiles of ancestors with Black heritage, which may include biography building, sourcing, and making correct connections.
See our Project Goals for more information on the specific goals we're trying to meet each year.
The US Black Heritage Project defines Black heritage as African diaspora family who lived in the USA any time from the beginning of the country to today. The families were generally enumerated on documents with any of the terms indicating at least some African heritage such as Black, mulatto, colored, etc.
Membership Requirements
Requirements for joining:
- Meet the basic genealogy and WikiTree skills requirements as defined on our Welcome Mat.
- Have Family Member level membership and sign the Honor Code
- Read the 3 very important pages linked at the top of the Welcome Mat
- Complete the New Member Form
- Declare what you would like to work on within the project
Once you join we ask you to:
- Enter the US Black Heritage Path and work to complete the Profile Improvement Path. The Heritage Exchange Path is optional.
- Join at least one Project Team and make at least one contribution towards the project's goals every six months
- Join the project's Google Discussion Group
- Respond to the six-monthly check-in and to your team leader/coordinator
- Add black_heritage to the tags you follow to keep up with project posts
How to Join
It is extremely easy to join the project. Answer this 
post, telling us which team(s) you would like to be a part of and share two profiles you believe shows you meet the basic skills requirements. Add black_heritage to your followed tags to stay up to date with project posts. Our membership coordinator will contact you.
Project Stickers
To honor the heritage of African American family, please use the African-American Sticker. This sticker is for profiles of people who lived in the USA only. To add this sticker to a profile, enter {{African-American Sticker}} somewhere below the heading "Biography." That will give you this:
- This sticker is the only standard way for the US Black Heritage Project to count the number of project profiles, so is very important for tracking our progress. It also helps to differentiate between people of the same name who live in the same location. We ask that you use it for all Black Americans whose profiles are not managed by the project. Those who are project managed will get the project box instead.
- What if you are uncertain of a person's heritage because different census records show a person as Black, mulatto, and white?
- Usually, the census taker marked a person's race based on what they saw at the time. It's best to get an overall picture of the person's race by looking at multiple records. It's not accurate 100% of the time, but usually pretty close. We use the sticker when any terms indicating at least some African heritage were used on records. This includes "mulatto."
Project Tags
The following tags are used by the US Black Heritage Project. Please follow them to receive notifications regarding these topics.
- black_heritage (used on all project posts)
- african_american is also used, but not consistently on all posts
- heritage_exchange
- slavery
- plantations
- black_history
- connecting_challenge
- usbh
Project Stats
We regularly track the progress of the project. See our Stats page for the numbers over time.
- Total project profiles through October 19, 2025: 588,684
Our 2025 goal is to reach 625,000.
Contact Us
Email Your Info
- If you or a friend would like to send us documentation or other information about an enslaved ancestor, just email: wikitrees-usbh-exchange at googlegroups.com - replace the at with @