In it's 130 years of existence, the Harvard Law Review never elected a
black woman as president.
Now, 24 year old ImeIme Umana has changed
that as she becomes the first African-American to lead a journal that
has the largest reach of any law journal in the world.
The Review elected its first black man as president
27 years ago. That was former President Barack Obama. It has had other
minorities as presidents. And it has had female presidents, the first of
whom was elected 41 years ago. But until now, never a black woman.
Umana was chosen by the Harvard Law Review's 92 student editors in what
is widely considered the highest-ranked position that a student can have
at the law school. The difficult election process required a thorough
dissection of her work and application, and a 12-hour long deliberation
of her portfolio.
In a chat with the Harvard Crimson, the school's newspaper, Umana
said "I didn't realize civics could be so personal and so alive for a
lot of the students. It taught me sensitivity in teaching but it also
taught me, like the public defender's service, to not assume certain
backgrounds, certain reactions, certain lived experiences."
The daughter of Nigerian immigrants, Umana grew up in Harrisburg,
Pennsylvania. She's a joint degree candidate at Harvard Law School and
the Harvard Kennedy School of Government.
Last summer, she interned with
the public defender's office in the Bronx, and wants to serve as a
public defender.
No comments:
Post a comment