Lau, Barbara (Barbara A.)

Barbara Lau (1958- ), folklorist and program coordinator, has studied African-American shape-note singing groups in the midwest, coordinated the 1983 Shape-Note Singing Reunion in St. Louis, Mo., and documented the 1983 and 1984 Ohio-Indiana-Michigan Vocal Singing Conventions. While doing graduate work in folklore at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Lau worked with a Cambodian community in Greensboro, N.C., through the Greensboro Buddhist Center. In 1999, she became the community-based documentary programs coordinator at the Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University.

Born in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1958, Barbara Lau grew up in Ohio and attended Washington University in Saint Louis, Mo., 1976-1980, graduating with a degree in urban studies and sociology. While in Saint Louis, Lau became interested in African-American shape-note singing groups in the region and surveyed several singing groups for her undergraduate senior thesis. While on staff at the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial in Saint Louis, Mo., Lau continued working with these groups and presented them at a Shape-Note Singing Reunion in February 1983. She also documented the larger regional Ohio-Indiana-Michigan Vocal Singing Convention from 1983 to 1984. Lau worked as a backstage manager at the Fox Theatre in Saint Louis, Mo., and coordinated program areas for the Smithsonian Festival of American Folklife in Washington, D.C., 1986-1991. She attended the masters program in folklore at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 1991-1993, and was program coordinator for the Southern Arts Federation in Atlanta, Ga., from 1993 to 1995.

While at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Lau became acquainted with the Cambodian community in Greensboro, N.C., and began fieldwork with them for her masters thesis. Working with the Greensboro Buddhist Center, she received a grant and several contracts through the North Carolina Arts Council to document folklife traditions of this new immigrant community in 1995. Lau continued work as a freelance folklorist and consultant through the late 1990s. In 1999, she became the community-based documentary programs coordinator at the Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University.