US: Ime Umanah emerges first Black woman president of Harvard

A NIGERIAN woman from Akwa Ibom State has been elected president of the prestigious Harvard Law Review, making her its first Black woman president in 130 years.

Ime Ime Umanah, 24, hails from Abak Local Government Area in the South-South state.

Daughter of a Nigerian immigrant, Ime Sampson Umanah (late), Ime grew up in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and holds a joint degree at Harvard Law School and the Harvard Kennedy School of Government.

She 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 prestigeuos law school.

Ime is the first African-American woman to lead a journal that has the largest reach of any law journal in the world.

The first Black man to be elected president was Barack Obama 27 years ago, while it has been 41 years since the first woman, Susan Estrich, was elected.

The election process was a difficult one as it required a thorough dissection of her work and application and a 12-hour long deliberation of her portfolio.