Bringing a Hidden Figure to Life for Children by Sonya Bernard-Hollins

It was the find you dream about. Boxes of photographs, diaries, tickets to historic events, and letters! When I discovered Merze Tate through the archives at Western Michigan University, I was hooked. My discovery of her being the first African American graduate of Oxford University was just the tip of the iceberg.

Born on a farm in Blanchard, Michigan in 1906, she lived a life without boundaries. She was an inventor, an award-winning writer of international history, world traveler, speaker of five languages, millionaire philanthropist…and (no spoiler alert).

What do you do with all that information? And how do you make it relevant to children? Through photographs!

After years of research to write a biography of Merze Tate, those who attended my lectures in libraries across the state wanted to take something home with them. They wanted something to inspire their children and grandchildren..and themselves. Merze and her life in the 20th century was one of phenomenal accomplishments achieved far beyond what the legendary trio (Harriet Tubman, Sojourner Truth, and Rosa Parks) could have hoped for.

She met with dignitaries around the world and even worked for the State Department. Federal Bureau of Investigations Director J. Edgar Hoover investigated her to learn more about this woman who achieved so much in a time when Jim Crow’s wings cast a dark shadow on the potential of so many African Americans.

The book, Small Beginnings: A Photographic Journey Through the Life of Merze Tate, presents her story in prose and ends with a poem Tate wrote on her way to Oxford University in 1932. Original images from Tate’s own collection bring to life a story told more than 20 years after her death, through the lens of her own camera.

https://www.amazon.com/Small-Beginnings-Photographic-Journey-Through/dp/0999133470/

As I continued to work toward the adult biography, my desire for a children’s book seemed necessary. Illustrators (and I) grew frustrated in trying to narrow down such a complex life in 12 spreads or less. I had a traveling exhibition of Tate’s photographs curated through a grant from Grand Valley State University and viewers were captivated by the places she traveled and the people she met. They also found it astounding, that, through it all, she was a history professor at Howard University.

When I learned she never married or had children, I felt a desire to bring her legacy to life in another way. Her scrapbooks showed a Travel Club she founded in 1928 as a high school history professor at Crispus Attucks High School in Indianapolis, Ind. That black and white photograph of teenagers dressed in their Sunday best and headed to Washington D.C., struck a cord. In 2008, I started a similar club for girls who have traveled the world; working their way to all the places Tate once ventured decades earlier.

As authors, it is our job to inspire the world through our stories. While fiction has its place, I have discovered other hidden figures in our local archives. These hidden figures have contributed to their communities and beyond; never having received recognition. Now is the time!

Sonya Bernard-Hollins graduated from Western Michigan University with a degree in English with an emphasis in Journalism. She has worked as a reporter for various newspapers and magazines and has received recognition for her work by Michigan Press Association and others. Her husband, Sean, uses his talents as a graphic designer to co-produce children’s books on hidden figures in Michigan history through the imprint, Community Voices.

Learn more:
Website: www.merzetate.com
Facebook: Merze Tate Explorers
Twitter: @merzetate
Instagram: merzetate
YouTube: Merze Tate Explorers Channel

Sonya can be reached at: contact@merzetate.com
Books available on Amazon.