We can’t all have to be Musicians!
The immediate past American president Barrack Obama made the history in 1990, as the first black president of the Harvard Law Review. But, paradigm as shift once again as 27-years old Nigerian, who goes by the name Imeime Umana makes history as the first FEMALE black president of the Harvard Law Review.
At a time when women’s voices are increasingly getting louder in most parts of the society, this spells victory for women across the world and for African-Americans in the US.
Umana studied Government and African-American studies at Harvard College with her interest particularly on the intersection between government and African-American studies and the exploration of how stereotypes of black women are reproduced and reinforced in American Political discourse.
In 2013, she worked as a criminal law investigative intern for the public defender’s office in D.C. In an interview at the time, Umana said this internship opened her eyes to injustice.
“It’s very easy to presume that you know a lot about urban communities and the troubles they face…I read ‘Sister Citizen,’ and I read ‘Killing the Black Body,’ and I’ve watched all of these documentaries, and I’ve written all these papers, but the internship, really, in just a few days, showed me how little I actually did know about the realities of the situation and urban America.”
To emerge President of the Review, ImeIme Umana beat 11 other candidates of eight women and eight people of colour. Outgoing president, Michael Zuckerman has described Umana as “brilliant, thoughful and one of the most caring people I’ve ever met“.
ImeIme Umana is a native of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania but of Nigerian descent. She has described her election as a “great privilege”.
