By Zenitha Prince

Special to Trice Edney News Wire from Afro American Newspapers

ImeIme Umana, one of four daughters born to Nigerian immigrants, was elected as the 131st president of the Harvard Law Review out of 12 candidates, eight of whom were minorities and eight of whom were women.

Ms. Umana is the second African-American to snag the coveted position. President Obama became the first when he was elected in 1990 during his law school years at Harvard.

“It still feels like magic that I’m here,” Ms. Umana told The New York Times of her election to the highly competitive position at the widely circulated law journal.

But colleagues and others said Ms. Umana’s election was not by chance.

“ImeIme is one of the most brilliant, thoughtful and dedicated people I’ve ever met, and the Law Review is in phenomenally good hands,” said Michael Zuckerman, Ms. Umana’s predecessor, in a statement.

“Like many others around campus, I’ve been blown away by ImeIme since she was an undergraduate in Harvard’s Lowell House. And it has been thrilling to watch the Law Review’s membership recognize so heartily what a special human being she is. I am excited for all of the amazing work that she will do for our institution in the year ahead.”

A native of State College, Pa., Ms. Umana is a 2014 graduate of Harvard College, where she earned dual degrees in African-American studies and government. She plans to intern with the public defender’s office in Washington. Already, she has lined up a clerkship with Judge Robert L. Wilkins of the U.S. Court of Appeals in the District of Columbia upon her graduation next year.