Projects & Research
Research Presentations.Scholarly Performances.Community Projects.
International Project Samples
More Content Forthcoming - Check Back Soon!
Alice In Wonderland in Visual Culture - With Presentation Audio
“The Wife of His Youth” - Conference Presentation
Extended: Tara’s Ghana Volunteer Teaching Service Trip, August 2013
Overview: Tara’s Ghana Volunteer
Teaching Service Trip, August 2013
Noble Sissle Conference Presentation - Expands Upon a larger, original thesis project and considers the economics of Shuffle Along and the Harlem Renaissance performance culture. Includes short Sissle film.
Student Services, Development and Service Learning
As Asst. Professor of African American Studies, Advisor of the Black Student Union, and a faculty ally for MEChA at Los Angeles Valley College, Ms. Lake spent many hours discussing the implications of Hurricane Katrina with students in the 2005-2006 academic year. After the slow progress in recovery, she organized a fundraising and community education project - raising over $16,000 - and led her students, one of whom was from New Orleans, to the city to volunteer, along with two additional faculty volunteers. The group of 21 traveled to New Orleans in April, 2007 for a Service Learning Trip.
Podcasting & Community Arts
As Vice-Chair and Acting Chair of the East Point (GA) Cultural Enrichment Commission, Ms. Lake proposed and headed up the city grant-funded Cultural Arts Festival in 2012. She also served as emcee.
At Maranatha Preparatory school in Kasoa-Accra, Ghana, Tara led a recitation and performance workshop based on James Weldon Johnson’s “Lift Every Voice and Sing.” Here, nervous students from various classes tried the song together after studying the poem for some time.
Tara delivers donations from Atlanta friends, family, and community members. Most of these donations were given directly to the school for the new school year, but as many summer students attend other schools during the year, Tara and the Maranatha leadership opted to provide all students with supplies for the coming session.
Researching the Experience of American Women in WWII -
Women in Military and Civilian Service during the War
“Lydia Maria Child's The Freedmen's Book: New Reflections on Early African American Education and Origins of African American Studies”
As Asst. Professor of African American Studies and Advisor of the Black Student Union (BSU), Tara founded the UBUNTU Student Success and Retention Program to address concerns voiced by the many first-generation college students in her classes and meetings. Still in existence, UBUNTU provides programs to retain students who need additional guidance and support - both academic and social, and to ensure culturally cognizant programming to ensure higher retention. The culminating “Black Grad” was concept Tara gained at UCLA, where she had been a graduate student and counselor. The participating students - UBUNTU participants, BSU members, and African American Studies students - were from various cultures and backgrounds. The 2008 graduation also celebrated the service of LAVC President Dr. Tyree Wieder on the occasion of her retirement, and supporters of the program from across the campus.
Research Presentation Samples
In 2008 & 2009, Ms. Lake produced podcast projects for her students. The first, the “Barack Obama Block Party (Part 1 & Part 2)” chronicled the election of President Barack Obama, while the second “Prophesying the Homegrown Soulful Solution Revival”, Chronicled the work of members of Generation Excellent in the wake of the President’s election.
“Taking ‘Black Lives Matter’ to CNN: An Oral History of AUC Student Protest Amid the Failure to Indict in the Killing of Mike Brown,” presented with Atlanta Metropolitan State College colleagues on a panel focusing on Oral History Research. Check back for a podcast recording on Tara’s Interviews!
December 14, 16, 17 & 18, 2020: A special edition of A Philadelphia Literary Moment featuring Tara’s interview with Dr. Utz McKnight, author of the new book Frances E.W. Harper: A Call To Conscience, published December, 2020. Companion to the three-part Harper series. Airs on WPPM, 106.5 FM, Philadelphia, on TuneIn (WPPM) or at www.phillycam.org/listen. Now available on Youtube.
October 31 - November 1, 2020: Tara performs in A Philadelphia Literary Moment: Frances E.W. Harper’s Speeches, a radio special written and produced by Tara Lake. Part of a three-part series. Airs on WPPM, 106.5 FM, Philadelphia, on TuneIn (WPPM) or at www.phillycam.org/listen. Now available on Youtube.
July 12, 18 & 19, 2020: Tara performs in A Philadelphia Literary Moment: Frances E.W. Harper’s Fiction, an audio drama inspired radio special written and produced by Tara Lake. Part of a three-part series. Airs on WPPM, 106.5 FM, Philadelphia, on TuneIn (WPPM) or at www.phillycam.org/listen. Now available on Youtube.
04/25 & 05/02/20: Airing of A Philadelphia Poetry Moment: Frances E.W. Harper’s Poetry, radio special written, performed and produced by Tara Lake. Part of a three-part series. Airs on WPPM, 106.5 FM, Philadelphia, on TuneIn (WPPM) or at www.phillycam.org/listen. Now available on Youtube.
09/25/15: “Taking ‘Black Lives Matter’ to CNN: An Oral History of AUC Student Protest Amid the Failure to Indict in the Killing of Mike Brown”. Talk on a panel with fellow AMSC-affiliated faculty: Including Students in Oral History Projects: Preserving Black History for Another Century. 100th Annual ASALH Conv.
09/26/14:”Writing the Black Freedom Movement on Family Soil: Walker’s ‘Everyday Use’, as a study on Gender, Race, and Community in the Evolving South.” Tara delivers a talk at the 99th Annual ASALH Convention, Memphis, TN.
01/31/14:“‘Ah wuz fumblin’ round and God opened de door’: An Authentic God of African-American Womanhood In Their Eyes Were Watching God” (Part two of a study on the possibilities of empowering divine experience in for Black Womanhood presented Hurston’s novel). Tara Presents at the New Voices Conference, Georgia State University, Atlanta.
11/13/14: “Reflections: Volunteer Teaching Trip to Kasoa-Accra, Ghana”. Tara delivers a talk about her teaching work abroad to students at Clayton State University, Sub-Saharan African History, Morrow, GA. View the Artifact Here.
11/07/13:“A Great Sermon About Colored Women Sittin’ On High: God on Earth In Their Eyes Were Watching God” (Part two of a study on the possibilities of empowering divine experience in for Black Womanhood presented Hurston’s novel.) Tara Presents at the 16th Annual Conference on the Harlem Renaissance, Paine College, Augusta, GA.
10/24/13:“‘I’s be’n lookin’ fer ‘im eber sence’: Locating Identity in Notions of Race, Identity, and History in ‘The Wife of His Youth’.” Tara Presents at the Gregory P. Domin Research Conference. Columbus State University. Columbus, GA.
10/04/13:“Child's The Freedman's Book: New Reflections on Early African American Education and Origins of African American Studies.” Tara Presents @ ASALH Conference, Jacksonville, FL
August 2013: Ghana - Kasoa,Greater Accra - Tara teaches English and a Special Arts Project at Maranatha Preparatory School.
03/15/13:“Researching the Experience of Women in World War II: Social, Economic, and Military Trends.” Tara Presents at the Clayton State University Academic Research Conference. Morrow, GA,.
03/2011: National Council of Black Studies(Research Talk). Black Women’s Voices as the Soul of African American Progressive Movements”. Annual Conference, Cleveland,Ohio.
10/02/10: 2010 ASALH Conference (Research Talk) “Swingin’ Economic Empowerment in the Harlem Renaissance: Noble Sissle, Shuffle Along, and a Black Revolution in Entertainment”. Annual Conference, Raleigh, NC.
09/24/10: “Soul Power” Outdoor Film Screening w/ Durham Community Media.
Selected Academic Events
Recent Academic Events