Tate, Merze, 1905-1996

• February 6, 1905: Born to Charles Edward and Myrtle (Katora) Tate in Blanchard, MI
• 1918 - 1920 : Attended Blanchard School for two years
• 1923: Battle Creek High School honor graduate and winner of first place in the Hynman Oratorical contest
• 1927: Graduated from Western Normal College/Western Michigan University with a B.A.
• 1927 - 1932 : Teacher Crispus Attucks High School
• 1930: Graduated from Columbia University, NY with a M.A.
• 1931: Awarded a diploma in International Studies from Geneva, Switzerland School.
• 1932: Awarded Alpha Kappa Alpha foreign scholar award
• 1934 - 1935 : Phelps-Stokes grant recipient
• 1935: Awarded B.Litt. from Oxford University, England. First African American woman to enroll in Oxford where she studied European diplomatic history.
• 1935 - 1936 : Dean of Women, teacher of history Barber-Scotia College, Concord, NC
• 1936 - 1941 : Chairman Division of Social Science Bennett College, Greensboro, NC
• 1939: Awarded Rosenwald fellowship
• 1941 - 1942 : Faculty member Morgan State University, Baltimore, MD
• 1941: Earned a Ph.D. from Radcliffe College/Harvard University, Cambridge, MA. First African American woman to earn a doctorate in Government and International relations
• 1942: Published The Disarmament Illusion: The Movement for a Limitation of Armaments to 1907
• 1942 - 1975 : Faculty of Diplomatic History and International relations Howard University, Washington, DC
• 1948: Recipient Outstanding Achievement Award, National Urban League Published The United States and Armaments Represented United States at UNESCO at seminar held at Lake Success and Adelphi College
• June 6, 1949: Delivered Commencement address at Morgan State University, Baltimore, MD
• 1950 - 1951 : Fulbright lecturer India served as a visiting professor at Rabindranath Tagore’s World University at Santiniketan, West Bengal. Lectured in eleven different Indian universities and college in Ceylon, and for the United States Information Services in Rangoon, Burma
• 1953: Summer Faculty Wayne State University, Indiana. Distinguished Professor Service Award, Radcliffe College Alumnae Association
• 1953 - 1958 : Vice president Radcliffe of Washington, DC
• 1954: Listed among Who’s Who Among American Women Received Radcliffe College Alumnae Association Graduate Chapter Medal for distinguished achievement in the field of history.
• 1955: Visiting lecturer Western Michigan University
• March 8 - 9, 1957 : Attended the Middle East Association spring meeting in Washington, DC
• April 4, 1957: Attended the League of Women’s Voters, One Day School
• 1958 - 1959 : Sabbatical from Howard University conducted research in Hawaii, Fiji, Australia and New Zealand
• 1959: Research grantee American Council of Learned Society
• 1960: Washington Evening Star award
• 1961: Rockefeller Foundation research grant
• 1962: Recipient of summer grant-in-aid from the President’s committee, Howard University
• 1963: Granted honorary LL.D from Morgan State University, MD
• 1965: Published The United States and the Hawaiian Kingdom
• 1967: Member Screening community for United Kingdom Institute of International Education
• 1968: Published Hawaii: Reciprocity or Annexation
• 1969: Named most distinguished citizen of Isabella County, MI.
• 1970: Distinguished Alumni award from Western Michigan University
• 1971: Merze Tate graduate fellowship established at Radcliffe College
• October 22, 1972: Listed among “Two Thousand Women of Achievement,” London, England
• 1973: Established trust fund for Western Michigan University
• 1973: Published Diplomacy in the Pacific: A Collection of Twenty-Seven Articles on Diplomacy in the Pacific and Influence of the Sandwich (Hawaiian) Islands Missionaries
• 1975: Visiting Trustee Radcliffe Graduate Institute
• 1976: Graduate School Council Award for Outstanding Contribution to Howard University Graduate Education
• 1976: Served on the advisory council for the Black Women’s Oral History Project
• 1976: Travelled to South Africa as the guest of select South African corporations and universities while conducting research on railways
• 1977: Established Merze Tate scholarship Western Michigan University Endowed annual Merze Tate Diplomatic History Seminar Howard University Retired from Howard University
• 1978: Awarded honorary LL.D from Lincoln University, PA. Spirit of Detroit award by the Mayor of Detroit Award American Black Artist’s Pioneer Award, Detroit, MI
• 1980: Received the Radcliffe College Alumnae Association Graduate Chapter Distinguished professional achievement medal Prometheans Inc. honorary life membership award, only woman member
• 1981: Funded the Merze Tate Center for Research and Information Processing, Western Michigan University
• 1986: Awarded honorary Doctor of Humane letters from Howard University, Washington, DC
• 1989: Published Mineral Railways in Africa
• June 27, 1996: Died from cardiac arrest. Buried in Pine River Cemetery near Blanchard, MI

From the guide to the Merze Vernie Tate Papers, 1906-1995, (Moorland-Spingarn Research Center, Howard University)