Kalamazoo Times

Western Michigan University alumna Sonya Bernard-Hollins has charted a course as a journalist, author, and mentor.

The editor and publisher of Community Voices, an online and print magazine, is following in the footsteps of ‘trailblazer’ Dr. Merze Tate, and is viewed by many as a role model, according to an article on the WMU website.

Nearly two decades ago, while a reporter at the Kalamazoo Gazette, Bernard-Hollins learned about Tate as she investigated story possibilities about African American leaders at the university, the article stated. She was immediately drawn to Tate’s story as a leader in education who in 1927, became the first Black woman to earn a bachelor’s degree from WMU.

The university recently named its newest college in her honor, according to WMU’s website.

Bernard-Hollins said she was fascinated by Tate’s story, especially with the travel club she started while she was a teacher at Crispus Attucks High School in Indianapolis, which was founded in 1927 by the Ku Klux Klan to segregate Black students from white students, the article stated.

Tate formed a travel club for her students to expose them to new worlds and new opportunities, according to WMU News. The club’s first trip was to Washington in 1932. For many club members, that trip was their first exposure to the world outside their own neighborhood.

This sparked Bernard-Hollins to create a travel club for young girls, dubbed Merze Tate, according to the university. Club members can publish their experiences in the Girls Can! Magazine and many of them, have interviewed female leaders, visited Fortune 500 companies, and traveled internationally.

“I want to help young women not only explore other possibilities but to have discussions about racism, mental health, wage negotiation, financial literacy and more, so young people are not blindsided when they go out into the world,” Bernard-Hollins told WMU News. “We are teaching them what many call 'soft skills,' which are priceless in any area of life.”

Bernard-Hollins has been a journalist for more than 20 years and has won several awards including Michigan Press Association and Associated Press of Michigan honors, according to the article. She wrote “Here I Stand: A Musical History of African Americans in Battle Creek, Michigan,” and also contributed to the play “My Heart Belongs to You, Kalamazoo.”

The mother of four said Tate still influences her.

“I want to keep Tate’s legacy alive, and I want to be someone she would be proud of,” she said.