Raised in South Jamaica, Queens, with a camera in one hand and a Source magazine in the other, she’s been preserving the stories we live since before she knew it could be a career. She doesn't follow blueprints — she builds them.

She earned a degree in Urban Youth Culture from Hunter College (because she invented the major) and went on to NYU for her Master’s in Moving Image Archiving and Preservation. Then? She wrote her own ticket. Gates is the founder of The Gates Preserve, a company devoted to protecting the creative record and making sure the worlds we shape outlast us. 

The Gates Preserve

The Project STAND Podcast: A Blueprint is a conversation with student activists, memory workers, archivists, artists, historians, scholars, and everyone in between that intersects with the creation, documentation, advocacy, archiving, and preservation of histories relating to the activism and organizing within Black and Brown communities and other marginalized student populations. We are having honest conversations where voices are sharing their fears, joys, challenges, hopes, plans, policies, and visions for liberation, a blueprint for repair,  an archive that centers their voice.

Lae'l Hughes-Watkins, founder of Project STAND, has a 1:1 with Khari Gardner, a student at the University of Kentucky. Gardner is the founder of Black Lives at UK. Gardner discusses his experiences as a student activist, the importance of archiving, and why the resurgence of national demonstrations for Black Lives Matter feels different this time.

Khari Gardner, founder of Black Lives at University Kentucky.

Saba Tshibaka, President of Black Terps at the University of Maryland, has an honest conversation about the importance of "showing up" and what it means to support a movement and those on the front lines. During this interview, she is at Tent City occupation at the Department of Education. Saba and other activists are calling attention to more equitable education for Black students. She talks about walking in the Women's March in Washington D.C and receiving support from the SunRise Movement at George Washington University and mentorship from DeAndre Gates, an Atlanta Community Organizer.

Saba Tshibaka, President of Black Terps

Project STAND pod hosts Lae'l Hughes-Watkins and Valencia Johnson interview Alex Soto. Alex is a member of the Tohono O’odham Nation and a 2020 graduate student earning a Master of Arts in Library and Information Science from the University of Arizona. He is a Knowledge River, ALA Spectrum, and ARL Kaleidoscope scholar.  Alex’s journey to librarianship comes after years of success as a touring hip-hop musician/educator and activist. As a graduate student, Alex has realized the importance of culturally relevant information literacy within tribal communities and the role of reparative archives in strengthening Indigenous sovereignty. Alex manages the Labriola National American Indian Data Center at Arizona State University. In this episode, Alex discusses how his life as a member of Tohono O’odham Nation and as a hip-hop artist, educator and activist influence his work LIS.

Alex Soto, Tohono O’odham Nation, Labriola National American Indian Data Center

Wanda Hernandez is a doctoral student in the Department of American Studies at the University of Maryland. Her research interest revolves around the formation of race and ethnic identity among U.S. Central Americans through material and visual culture, space and place, and performances of the everyday. In addition to academia, Wanda is an independent curator and cultural organizer. In 2017, she curated Nuestras Historias: Latinos in Richmond, the first bilingual exhibition to explore Latina/o heritage in Virginia. Currently, she is a part of a curatorial collective named Creating Casa, which organizes art exhibitions and public programs that question Latinx identity and placemaking in the Washington metropolitan area. Their next show, entitled Siempre Aquí, will open in April 2021 and will map the memories of DMV Latinxs through personal photographs.

Wanda Hernandez, Cultural Organizer and Memory Worker

On this episode of Project STAND's podcast, "A Blueprint," we share updates about receiving a grant from The Mellon Foundation, our plans for the three-year grant, welcome our inaugural Project STAND coordinator, and some baby news!

The Grant Squad: A Blueprint (Bonus Episode)

In this episode of Project STAND's podcast, "A Blueprint," we interview Atlanta native and student activist Zoe Bambara Daniels. She discusses leading a downtown ATL protest in 2020 in the aftermath of the killings of Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, and Ahmaud Arbery. Zoe also shares the importance of self-preservation on the road to liberation.

Zoe Bambara Daniel

Manuel Mendez, Chair for the DC AfroLatino Caucus, is originally from the Dominican Republic and moved to Washington, D.C. at the age of nine. After graduating from Bell Multicultural High School, Mr. Mendez received his bachelor’s degree in African Studies and Communication at Antioch College in Yellow Springs, Ohio. Fortunate to have a host of mentors in his adolescence, Mr. Mendez’s passion for supporting positive youth development and the issues that plague the people of the African Diaspora are ever apparent themes in his pursuit for affecting progressive change in his community. As a constant staple in the Columbia Heights neighborhood, Mr. Mendez’s dedicated support has allowed him to forge long-term meaningful relationships with members of the community.  Currently as the chair of the DC AfroLatino Caucus, Mr. Mendez’s goal is to unite “black and brown” people of the Washington metropolitan area.

Manuel Mendez, Chair DC AfroLatino Caucus

In the early 1960s, young Black college students conducted sit-ins around America to protest the segregation of restaurants. Ella Baker, a Civil Rights activist and Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) official, invited some of those young Black activists (including Diane Nash, Marion Barry, John Lewis, and James Bevel) to a meeting at Shaw University in Raleigh, North Carolina in April of 1960. From that meeting, the group formed the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). It was made up mostly of Black college students, who practiced peaceful, direct action protests. 

Image source: Memories of the Southern Civil Rights Movement 123, Bleakbeauty.com
Photo: Danny Lyon

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