The Merze Tate Explorers: Young Writers Experience the World

Equity and inclusion continues to be at the forefront of our minds – in our reading, writing, and daily lives. One underlying thought is: who gets to tell your story and who decides. This blog post is the second of a two-part series for our Equity and Inclusion Corner that addresses the issue of access. As in part one, this interview aligns with RAWK’s (Read and Write Kalamazoo) mission to “celebrate and amplify youth voices…through creativity, equity, and access.”

While a reporter at the Kalamazoo Gazette, Sonya Bernard-Hollins wrote a story on African American firsts of Western Michigan University. What she discovered was that Merze Tate was an African American with many “first“ accomplishments. She was the first African American female to earn a Bachelor of Science degree from Western Michigan University, and the first African American woman to earn a Ph.D. in Political Science from Radcliffe at Harvard University. 

Sonya Bernard-Hollins

Learn more about Merze Tate from a previous Mitten blog post:

Bringing a Hidden Figure to Life for Children.

Tate’s legacy led Sonya to found the Merze Tate Travel Club (now Merze Tate Explorers) in 2008 to expose girls in 5th-12th grades to the community around them, and beyond. Engaged in nonfiction writing about their experiences, the young journalists have navigated a ship on Lake Michigan, flown small aircraft, floated in gondolas in Venice, climbed Mt. Fuji in Japan, and more to discover their world and passions, much as Tate did with her students decades earlier.  

Grab your favorite beverage and enjoy a chat with Sonya.

~ Angela Verges

Can you tell our readers a little about Dr. Merze Tate and how you discovered her work?

I was amazed that a Michigan woman I’d never heard of had done so many great things in the area of education, international politics, government, technology, and the arts. It was her “first” at WMU that really got the ball rolling in my desire to share her story. When she graduated from WMU in 1927, she had the highest academic record in the school’s history. However, African Americans were not hired to teach secondary school in Michigan because of Jim Crow segregation. With the help of Dr. Waldo, the president of WMU, she received a job at Crispus Attucks High School in Indianapolis. This all-black school was founded in 1927 by leaders in that city’s Ku Klux Klan, to keep schools segregated. She was their first history teacher and started a Travel Club at the school for students to expose them to a world beyond their community. 

How did you begin the Merze Tate Travel Club?

My goal was to write a book about Merze Tate. The actual club began through a challenge from the Kalamazoo Community Foundation. They offered a $500 grant to anyone with ideas on how to provide a unique learning experience for youth. I applied for a chance to take girls on an Amtrak from Kalamazoo to Battle Creek to learn about the Underground Railroad. I received the funds, and the rest is history. Because of my background in journalism, I wanted girls to not simply be observers, but reporters to learn how to share what they learn with those in their families and community. What good was it to simply meet someone if you can’t share what you learned? The hook to provide a travel experience and writing made our program unique. And, the fact that it was based on a Michigan woman made it even more unique. 

After I wrote the book Small Beginnings, Merze Tate’s life grew into something bigger for me. The girls who participated in our travel club became an extension of Merze Tate’s story, continuing her legacy. They learned to become writers. Seeing the things Merze Tate did inspired the girls. They didn’t have some of the barriers Merze did.

How are the girls selected to participate in the Travel Club and how many participate?

Auditions are held at the Kalamazoo Valley Museum. The girls pull an exhibit title from a hat. They have 15 minutes to research the exhibit and record their findings in a newscast format. They participate in fun games about landmarks around the world. The entire process takes about an hour. In the early days of the Travel Club, we’ve had up to 70-80 girls. Over the years this has been scaled down to 25 girls due to COVID-19 and the need to have a more focused group of girls who work best virtually.

Is there a cost for the girls to participate?

The is a $25 fee which covers the cost of a Polo shirt. The girls do a lot of fundraising so all can participate in study abroad, the summer college academy, and more without the fee being a barrier.

What type of things are the girls involved in?

Over the years, the program has evolved. What began as a Saturday program to expose girls to things such as ice skating, plays, and historic landmarks has become so much more. They participate in community service projects, fundraisers, and take trips to apply for study abroad that are learning experiences. They vote on the service projects and how they will use their funds. 

Study abroad experiences have included visits to places such as Hawaii, Japan, and Europe.  Each trip has a themed focus, usually arts or STEM-related. They have met and interviewed women vice presidents of Fortune 500 companies and history makers such as Mae Jemison and Ruth Carter, the first African American to win an Oscar for Costume Design. Their work as journalists is highlighted each year in their Girls Can! Magazine. 

An annual Summer College Academy allows girls to live on a college campus for a week while meeting college students, administrators and visiting museums or corporations in that area. This experience is often the first time away from home for many and the first time in a college dorm. 
 

You mentioned a partnership with Kalamazoo Valley Community College. What does that entail?

When the girls interviewed Dr. Marshall Washington, the first African American president of Kalamazoo Valley Community College, he was impressed. That led to a partnership to provide students the opportunity to take a college course on Saturdays for credit. Students ages 14 and older qualified while younger students took part in interactive career exploration. It was the first time the college ever provided such a partnership and has since opened the doors for other organizations serving youth. 

Any closing thoughts?

The book! It’s funny because the original purpose was to write a book about Merze Tate. In the meantime, the research I have conducted on her has led to a traveling exhibition of her own photographs that debuted in 2012 at the Michigan Women’s Hall of Fame (of which Tate is an inductee). As I continue to work on her biography, I have written, Small Beginnings: A Photographic Journey Through the Life of Merze Tate in the same rhythmic pattern as the poem she wrote on her way to Oxford. It includes many of her own photographs to tell her life story. 

So, Tate’s life continues to inspire as girls find their passion and careers through the exposure of
a travel club based on one she founded in 1928. While she has left millions to universities for
scholarships, it is her determination as a woman of color who defied the odds that allows her
story to live on far after her death in 1996. 

Learn more about Sonya Bernard-Hollins and the Merze Tate Travel Club by visiting
https://www.merzetate.org.

Thank you Sonya for bringing the Merze Tate Girls Club to life for us. May the girls continue to experience all the world has to offer, through your guidance.

Angela Verges is an award-winning humorist (in training, waiting to be discovered). She has shared humor through blogging, women’s retreats, and other venues. Angela is a graduate of Michigan State University and mother of two. She encourages the use of humor for healing and believes you can relieve tension, one laugh at a time.

Angela is also the author of Menopause Ain’t No Joke – Blending Faith and Humor in Perfectly Imperfect Situations.

Contact Angela Verges for speaking engagements, comedy, or to share comments. http://www.angelaverges.com

Read more posts from the SCBWI-MI Equity and Inclusion team here:

https://scbwimithemitten.blogspot.com/p/scbwi-mi-diversity-blog.html