How long have you been on WikiTree?
I’ve been on WikiTree since December 2017. I genuinely don’t remember how I stumbled upon this place (probably via my cousin Ginny Winslett), but when I realized what it did and what it meant, I was like the cartoon wolf with the “AROOGA” eyes. This is what I’ve always wanted to work on. If only back then I hadn’t uploaded *quite* so much GEDCOM. I’m going to be finding bits of that to clean up until I die.
Which project or projects are you most involved in?
About a year ago, I got involved with the US Black Heritage Project. It’s such an amazingly important and worthwhile project. So many Black Americans have been told that researching their roots is impossible. That’s just not the case. Yes, there are unique challenges to Black genealogy, and there frequently are unbreakable walls, but it doesn’t mean these stories shouldn’t be sought out. Everyone deserves to know where they came from.
I’m a Team Leader on the Notables project for US Black Heritage. Most of my day is spent on that. It’s important to have great profiles for all of our Notables. Our profiles show up when you do a Google search for a famous person, so it’s crucial that these profiles look as good as possible. Right now we’re conducting a big push to identify new Notables and to ask Profile Managers of existing profiles to add us as co-manager. (If I’ve sent you a message about this, hey there! Can you add us? We’re nice!) Currently, we manage or co-manage over 2000 profiles, but we always want more!
I also work on the African-American Cemeteries team. My task right now is adding African-American cemeteries in Louisiana. Louisiana fascinates me, even though I don't have a direct genealogical connection, just a tangential one with the Acadians.
When I’m not working on those things, I just try to attack unconnected branches. Three of the biggest unconnected branches on WikiTree are Black families. It would be SO great to get them connected.
How can others help the US Black Heritage Project?
LOL. We need volunteers EVERYWHERE. There is so much work to be done, and we have lots of really cool teams. If you’re looking for some really meaningful work, please sign up. It’s super rewarding and we’re a fun team to work with.
If you’re not up for formally becoming part of our team, the most helpful thing you can do is to always add the {{African-American Sticker}} under the Biography line in a profile when you create or find a profile for a Black American. This helps us out in so many ways.
What inspires you to contribute so much of yourself to WikiTree's mission?
Black people in America have historically been excluded from all aspects of life, including genealogy. Helping people to find ancestors and stories they never thought they could find is indescribably important to me. Connecting even one living person to their enslaved ancestor is worth all the effort.
What is your favorite feature or function on WikiTree?
I feel like I learn something new every day. A few months ago, our fearless leader Emma MacBeath mentioned something called the Category Picker, which I’d never noticed. What a game-changer. Finding categories on WikiTree can be challenging, as we all know. This makes it so incredibly easy to find what you’re looking for.
The other feature I can’t live without is the little orange puzzle piece on the top of unconnected profiles. If you can’t see that on your unconnected profiles, join the Connectors Project, pronto. It’s so worth it.
What feature or function would you most like to see added or improved?
It really would be great if it was easier to find categories and pages. Sometimes I just give up and Google what I want. I’d love a search function that is for everything BUT individual profiles. (I bet someone’s going to tell me that this exists already.)
Do you have a story about how someone was helped through your participation on WikiTree?
Nothing spectacular, but I want to shout out the amazing USBH team again. These folks are SO helpful, collaborative and good-humored. If any of us need help, we just post on the Discord and someone always jumps right in to lend a hand.
Do you have any tips for someone who wants to get more involved in our community?
If you’re just starting out, it’s okay to feel overwhelmed. We were all new here once. There is a learning curve, so just go slow and steady. Use the tutorials. Ask for help. I’m not kidding when I say that I learn almost weekly about some existing functionality that I didn’t know about. And find a project! I’ve gotten so much more out of WikiTree since I joined up with USBH and became part of the awesome little community there.
What could we do to inspire more people to participate in our mission?
We have a great social media team. I would like to encourage more of our members to engage on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. The more clicks and likes and comments they get, the more people see them!
