History was made when ImeIme A. Umana, a Harrisburg, Pa, native became the first black woman elected as president of the Harvard Law Review. Umana will be the 131st president of the legal journal and as an undergraduate, double majored in government and African American studies. She was also president of the Institute of Politics.
The outgoing president Michael L. Zuckerman wrote in an email that he’s excited to see where Umana will take the publication. “ImeIme is one of the most brilliant, thoughtful, and caring people I’ve ever met, and the Law Review is in phenomenally good hands.”
Top candidates for the position must answer questions from several editors, submit written responses and participate in mock editorial activities, Zuckerman said. This year’s candidates consisted of eight women as well as eight people of color. As president, Umana will oversee more than 90 student editors and permanent staff members who act as a liaison between writers and senior faculty members.
“ImeIme’s election as the Law Review’s first female black president is historic,” Zuckerman wrote. “For a field in which women and people of color have for too much of our past been marginalized or underrepresented, her election is an important and encouraging step toward a richer and more inclusive legal conversation.”
Back in February of 1990, a then 28-year-old Barack Obama became the first black man elected as president of the Harvard Law Review. In a statement, Obama called his election to the respected law journal “encouraging” but warned that just because he would lead the journal, it doesn’t mean there isn’t more work to be done.
”But it’s important that stories like mine aren’t used to say that everything is O.K. for blacks. You have to remember that for every one of me, there are hundreds or thousands of black students with at least equal talent who don’t get a chance,” he said.
Congrats to Umana!
