Vernie Merze Tate (February 6, 1905 – June 27, 1996) was a professor, scholar and expert on United States diplomacy.

This, however, was unsatisfactory for college entrance, so she enrolled in Battle Creek High School where she maintained a straight-A average while working as a maid.

During this time she continued her education by taking correspondence courses and returned to Western Michigan to complete her Bachelor of Arts degree in three years while maintaining the highest grade average of her classmates.

[7] Tate received assistance from administrators at Western Michigan and was able to find a teaching position at Crispus Attucks High School in Indianapolis, Indiana.

[4] She matriculated as a Home Student of St Anne's College, and was the first African-American woman member of Oxford University.

[11] In 1936, she became the history and social science department chairman at Bennett College for women, also in North Carolina, where she taught four years.

[14] She visited the White House annually (including meetings with Eleanor Roosevelt) and attended the 1932 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.