Vernie Merze Tate (February 6, 1905 – June 27, 1996) was a professor, scholar and expert on United States

diplomacy Diplomacy comprises spoken or written communication by representatives of states (such as leaders and diplomats) intended to influence events in the international system.Ronald Peter Barston, ''Modern diplomacy'', Pearson Education, 2006, p. 1 ...

. She was the first

African-American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American ...

graduate of

Western Michigan Teachers College Western Michigan University (Western Michigan, Western or WMU) is a public research university in Kalamazoo, Michigan. It was initially established as Western State Normal School in 1903 by Governor Aaron T. Bliss for the training of teache ...

, first African-American woman to attend the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the world's second-oldest university in contin ...

, first African-American woman to earn a Ph.D. in government and international relations from

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...

(then

Radcliffe College Radcliffe College was a women's liberal arts college in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and functioned as the female coordinate institution for the all-male Harvard College. Considered founded in 1879, it was one of the Seven Sisters colleges and he ...

), as well as one of the first two female members to join the Department of History at

Howard University Howard University (Howard) is a Private university, private, University charter#Federal, federally chartered historically black research university in Washington, D.C. It is Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education, classifie ...

Early life

Tate was born February 6, 1905, in rural

Rolland Township, Michigan Rolland Township is a civil township of Isabella County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 1,210 at the 2000 census. Communities *Blanchard is an unincorporated community within the township at , in the southwest corner of Isabel ...

. Her great-grandparents had migrated to Michigan from

Ohio Ohio () is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Of the List of states and territories of the United States, fifty U.S. states, it is the List of U.S. states and territories by area, 34th-l ...

after receiving land through the

Homestead Act The Homestead Acts were several laws in the United States by which an applicant could acquire ownership of government land or the public domain, typically called a homestead. In all, more than of public land, or nearly 10 percent of ...

. She began attending Rolland Township Elementary School Number Five, which was located on land owned by her family. At age 13 she entered Blanchard High School. This high school was destroyed by fire and students had to attend makeshift classrooms in area buildings. Due to inadequate educational facilities, students graduated at the end of the tenth grade. Merze Tate was the youngest and only African-American graduate in her class and was selected valedictorian. This, however, was unsatisfactory for college entrance, so she enrolled in Battle Creek High School where she maintained a straight-A average. As she was only enrolled in the school for two years she could not be class valedictorian. She did win the Hynman Oratorical Contest which included an award of $50. After graduation Merze applied to Western State Teachers College (now

Western Michigan University Western Michigan University (Western Michigan, Western or WMU) is a Public university, public research university in Kalamazoo, Michigan. It was initially established as Western State Normal School in 1903 by Governor Aaron T. Bliss for the tr ...

) and was awarded a tuition scholarship.

Higher education and career

After completed the teacher's training program at Western Michigan Teacher's College, Tate taught at an elementary school in Cass County. During this time she continued her education by taking correspondence courses and returned to Western Michigan to complete her Bachelor of Arts degree in three years while maintaining the highest grade average of her classmates. In 1927, she became the first African-American to earn a bachelor's degree from the institution. She also elected to the national social science honor society. Despite her excellent academic career, Tate could not find employment in the state. At that time, Michigan would not hire

African American teachers African-American teachers educated African Americans and taught each other to read during slavery in the South. People who were enslaved ran small schools in secret, since teaching those enslaved to read was a crime (see Slave codes). Meanwhile, ...

in its secondary schools. Tate received assistance from administrators at Western Michigan and was able to find a teaching position at

Crispus Attucks High School Crispus Attucks High School (also known as Crispus Attucks Medical Magnet High School) is a high school of the Indianapolis Public Schools in Indianapolis, in the U.S. state of Indiana. It is named for Crispus Attucks (c.1723 – March 5, 17 ...

in Indianapolis,

Indiana Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th ...

. Whilst teaching, Tate took a part-time master's degree at Columbia. In 1932, she won an

Alpha Kappa Alpha Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. () is the first intercollegiate historically African American sorority. The sorority was founded on January 15, 1908, at the historically black Howard University in Washington, D.C., by a group of sixteen st ...

scholarship to study at

Oxford University Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

where she took a B.Litt. in International Relations in 1935. She matriculated as a Home Student of St Anne's College, and was the first African-American woman member of

. Subsequently, she gained a Ph.D. from Harvard University. In 1936, she became the history and social science department chairman at

Bennett College Bennett College is a private historically black liberal arts college for women in Greensboro, North Carolina. It was founded in 1873 as a normal school to educate freedmen and train both men and women as teachers. Originally coed, in 1926 i ...

for women, also in North Carolina, where she taught four years. She also spent a year at what is now Morgan State University, where she taught political science and was dean of women, before joining the faculty o
Howard University
Merze Tate (13270332113)

Later in her life, she was a world traveler and international correspondent for an African-American publication. She visited the

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest, Washington, D.C., NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. preside ...

annually (including meetings with

Eleanor Roosevelt Anna Eleanor Roosevelt () (October 11, 1884November 7, 1962) was an American political figure, diplomat, and activist. She was the first lady of the United States from 1933 to 1945, during her husband President Franklin D. Roosevelt's four ...

) and attended the

1932 Summer Olympics The 1932 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the X Olympiad and also known as Los Angeles 1932) were an international multi-sport event held from July 30 to August 14, 1932 in Los Angeles, California, United States. The Games were held dur ...

in Los Angeles. Later, she served as a

Fulbright The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright–Hays Program, is one of several United States Cultural Exchange Programs with the goal of improving intercultural relations, cultural diplomacy, and intercultural competence between the people ...

Scholar to India from 1950 to 1951. In 1964, she published an analysis of the effect of nuclear testing on the inhabitants of the Marshall Islands. Tate designed and secured patents for a refrigerator mixing unit.

Publications

*"Australia and Self-Determination for New Guinea." The Australian Journal of Politics and History 17 (August 1971): 246–59. *"Recent Constitutional Developments in Papua and New Guinea." Pacific Affairs 44 (Fall 1971): 421–27. *The United States and the Hawaiian Kingdom: A Political History (New Haven, 1965) *The United States and Armaments (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1948) *The Disarmament Illusion: The Movement for a Limitation of Armaments to 1907 (New York:MacMillan ad Co., 1942) *Hawaii: Reciprocity Or Annexation ( Michigan State University Press, 1968) *"Slavery and Racism as Deterrents to the Annexation of Hawaii, 1854-1855," Journal of Negro History 47, no.1 (January 1962): 1–18. *"The War Aims of World War I and World War II and Their Relation to the Darker Peoples of the World". The Journal of Negro Education, Vol. 12, Summer 1943: 521–532.

Awards and honors

*American Historical Association Award for Scholarly Distinction, 1991 *Inducted into Michigan Women's Hall of Fame, 1991 *Distinguished Alumnus Award, American Association of State Colleges and Universities, 1981 *Distinguished Alumni Award, Western Michigan University, 1970 *Graduate Society Award, Harvard and Radcliffe, 1954

Legacy

*The Merze Tate Prize for Best Article in Historical International Relations is awarded by the

International Studies Association The International Studies Association (ISA) is a US-based professional association for scholars and practitioners in the field of international studies. Founded in 1959, ISA has been headquartered at the University of Connecticut in Storrs sinc ...

* The Merze Tate Award for the best doctoral dissertation in the field of international relations, law, and politics is presented annually by the

American Political Science Association The American Political Science Association (APSA) is a professional association of political science students and scholars in the United States. Founded in 1903 in the Tilton Memorial Library (now Tilton Hall) of Tulane University in New Orleans, ...

* The Merze Tate Explorers began in 2008 as a project to provide additional skills to girls in grades 6-12. It was founded by Sonya Bernard-Hollins. * The Merze Tate Grant and Innovation Center in

’s College of Education and Human Development * Merze Tate Student Education Endowment Fund at Western Michigan University started with a $1 million donation from Tate herself * The Merze Tate Room, in Oxford's Faculty of History building, is named in her honour.

Notes

References

*
Visions and Decisions: Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the American Association of State Colleges and Universities
* Cosner, Shaaron and Jennifer Scanlon. ''American Women Historians, 1700s-1990s: A Biographical Dictionary'' * Vitalis, Robert
''White World Order, Black Power Politics: The Birth of American International Relations''
Cornell University Press (2015); accessed May 24, 2017.

External links

Full online text of "The Disarmament Illusion: The Movement for a Limitation of Armaments to 1907"Biography of Merze Tate
oldsettlersreunion.com; accessed May 24, 2017. {{DEFAULTSORT:Tate, Merze 1905 births 1996 deaths 20th-century American educators African-American academics Howard University faculty Radcliffe College alumni Western Michigan University alumni People from Isabella County, Michigan 20th-century African-American educators