Harvard Law Review president sees leadership as a learning experience
On a March evening, Michael Thomas Jr. gave a special tour of Gannett House to his dad and two brothers, who were visiting to see the place where Barack Obama, J.D. ’91, first made national headlines. In 1990, Obama became the first black leader of the Harvard Law Review, which was founded in 1887 and is based at Gannett House. Thomas’ relatives delighted in seeing traces of Obama in the building, including a group photo of editors with the future president in the center. But they were also there to celebrate Thomas, who had recently become the third African-American man to be elected president of the esteemed legal journal. “My family didn’t understand the significance of it, at first,” Thomas said in an interview. “I don’t have lawyers in my family. When I told them that Obama had been president of the Law Review, they were very happy for me.” Born in the Caribbean...