Of the Black Female “Talented Tenth”: The Life and Career of Merze Tate (1905-1996)

• In Event: Frequently Asked Questions: Engendering the Lives, Work, and Careers of “Little Known” Black Women Educators Who Made History

Abstract

This panel presentation explores the lives, work and careers of four “little known” black women educators—at least outside of academic circles—who made history: Septima Poinsette Clark (1898-1987), Ethel Thompson Overby (1892-1977), Merze Tate (1905-1996) and Marion Thompson Wright (1905-1962). Through a telling and re-telling of their biographies, which has presented some methodological challenges for each researcher, panelists argue that simply knowing about their lives, work and careers is not enough; rather, knowing about their lives can tell us a great deal about what academics can do “behind the scenes” or “offstage” to improve educational access and opportunity and to serve the public good. As scholars today work to imagine policies and practices in schools and communities that can bring about social justice in education, these black women theorized educational policies and practices that are just as timely today as when they lived.

Merze Tate was a professor, scholar and expert on United States diplomacy. She was the first African American graduate of Western Michigan Teachers College (now Western Michigan University), first African American woman to attend the University of Oxford, first African American woman to earn a Ph.D. in government and international relations from Harvard University (then Radcliffe College), as well as one of the first two female members to join the Department of History at Howard University.

Author

• Linda M. Perkins, Claremont Graduate University