Merze Tate

Unsung History

Scholar Merze Tate, born in Michigan in 1905, overcame the odds in what she called a “sex and race discriminating world,” to earn graduate degrees from Oxford University and Harvard University on her way to becoming the first Black woman to teach in the History Department at Howard University. During her long career, Tate published 5 books, 34 journal articles and 45 review essays in the fields of diplomatic history and international relations. Her legacy extends beyond her publications, as the fellowships she endowed continue to support students at her alma maters.

Joining me in this episode is historian Dr. Barbara Savage, the Geraldine R. Segal Professor Emerita of American Social Thought and Africana Studies at the University of Pennsylvania and author of Merze Tate: The Global Odyssey of a Black Woman Scholar.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. The mid-episode music is "Trio for Piano Violin and Viola," by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com), Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License. The episode image is “Portrait of Merze Tate;” photograph taken by Judith Sedwick in 1982 and housed in the Black Women Oral History Project Collection at the Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America; there are no known copyright restrictions.

Additional sources:

• “Merze Tate Collection,” Western Michigan University Archives.
• “Who was Dr. Merze Tate?” Western Michigan University.
• “Merze Tate: Her Legacy Continues,” Merze Tate Explorers.
• “WMU's Merze Tate broke color barriers around the world [video],” WOOD TV8, February 18, 2021.
• “Merze Tate,” by Maurice C. Woodard. PS: Political Science & Politics 38, no. 1 (2005): 101–2.
• “Vernie Merze Tate (1905-1996),” by Robert Fikes, BlackPast, December 22, 2018.
• “Merze Tate,” St. Anne’s College, University of Oxford.
• “Diplomatic Historian Merze Tate Dies At 91,” Washington Post, July 8, 1996.
• “Merze Tate College,” Western Michigan University.

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