Omar Tomas Wasow (born December 22, 1970) is an assistant professor in
UC Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after the Anglo-Irish philosopher George Berkele ...
’s Department of Political Science. He is co-founder of the social networking website
BlackPlanet.
Life
Wasow grew up in a
multi-ethnic family. His father, Bernard, is of
German Jewish
The history of the Jews in Germany goes back at least to the year 321 CE, and continued through the Early Middle Ages (5th to 10th centuries CE) and High Middle Ages (c. 1000–1299 CE) when Jewish immigrants founded the Ashkenazi Jewish commu ...
heritage, and his mother, Eileen, is
African-American
African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from any of the Black racial groups of Africa. ...
.
Bernard was a
civil rights activist
Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from infringement by governments, social organizations, and private individuals. They ensure one's entitlement to participate in the civil and political life of ...
who participated in the
Freedom Summer Project, which entailed registering Black voters in Mississippi.
Wasow's paternal grandfather was the mathematician
Wolfgang R. Wasow. Both Wolfgang Wasow and Omar Wasow's paternal grandmother are of
German Jewish
The history of the Jews in Germany goes back at least to the year 321 CE, and continued through the Early Middle Ages (5th to 10th centuries CE) and High Middle Ages (c. 1000–1299 CE) when Jewish immigrants founded the Ashkenazi Jewish commu ...
heritage.
Education
Wasow is a graduate of
Stuyvesant High School
Stuyvesant High School ( ) is a co-ed, State school, public, college-preparatory, Specialized high schools in New York City, specialized high school in Manhattan, New York City. The school, commonly called "Stuy" ( ) by its students, faculty, a ...
in
New York City
New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
, where he was president of the student union. He then graduated in 1992 from
Stanford University
Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...
in
California
California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...
with a BA degree in race and ethnic relations.
Wasow earned a PhD in
African-American
African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from any of the Black racial groups of Africa. ...
studies, an MA in government and an MA in statistics, all from
Harvard University
Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...
in 2012.
Tech career
In 1995, Wasow was proclaimed by ''
Newsweek
''Newsweek'' is an American weekly news magazine based in New York City. Founded as a weekly print magazine in 1933, it was widely distributed during the 20th century and has had many notable editors-in-chief. It is currently co-owned by Dev P ...
'' as one of the "fifty most influential people to watch in cyberspace."
In 1999 he created
BlackPlanet, one of the first major social networking sites. In 2008, the company was sold for $38 million.
Academic career
Wasow became an assistant professor of Politics at
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...
in 2013.
Wasow’s work centers on race and ethnic politics and social movements and protests.
His paper was published four days before the murder of
George Floyd
George Perry Floyd Jr. (October 14, 1973 – May 25, 2020) was an African-American man who was murdered by a white police officer in Minneapolis, Minnesota, during an arrest made after a store clerk suspected Floyd had used a counterfeit tw ...
, in ''
American Political Science Review
The ''American Political Science Review'' (''APSR'') is a quarterly peer-reviewed academic journal covering all areas of political science. It is an official journal of the American Political Science Association and is published on their behalf ...
'' paper on violent and nonviolent civil rights protests in the 1960s. The paper was widely discussed in international media coverage of the
George Floyd protests
The George Floyd protests were a series of protests, riots, and demonstrations against police brutality that began in Minneapolis in the United States on May 26, 2020. The protests and civil unrest began in Minneapolis as Reactions to the mu ...
.
Altmetric ranked the paper in the top 1% (1,000 of 18 million papers). Controversy erupted after
David Shor was fired from his job at
Civis Analytics, a progressive data analytics company, for tweeting a summary of Wasow’s paper.
Wasow has written commentary on the
George Floyd protests
The George Floyd protests were a series of protests, riots, and demonstrations against police brutality that began in Minneapolis in the United States on May 26, 2020. The protests and civil unrest began in Minneapolis as Reactions to the mu ...
and the
2021 United States Capitol attack
On January 6, 2021, the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C., was attacked by a mob of supporters of Donald Trump, President Donald Trump in an attempted self-coup,Multiple sources:
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In Summer 2021, Wasow became an assistant professor of Politics at
Pomona College
Pomona College ( ) is a private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Claremont, California. It was established in 1887 by a group of Congregationalism in the United States, Congregationalists ...
in Claremont, California. In 2022, he left Pomona College to become an assistant professor in
UC Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after the Anglo-Irish philosopher George Berkele ...
’s Department of Political Science.
Personal life
In 2012, Wasow married
Jennifer Brea, a documentary filmmaker he met while they were both Ph.D. students at
Harvard
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher lear ...
. He appears in her documentary film
''Unrest'' about her experience living with
myalgic encephalomyelitis which premiered at the
2017 Sundance Film Festival
The 2017 Sundance Film Festival took place from January 19 to January 29, 2017. The first lineup of competition films was announced November 30, 2016.
Awards
The following awards were presented:
* Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic – '' I Don't Feel ...
.
Wasow's sister is the filmmaker Althea Wasow, married to the writer
Paul Beatty.
Further reading
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References
External links
Omarwasow.com- official website
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C-SPAN ''Q&A'' interview with Wasow, December 27, 2009
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wasow, Omar
1970 births
Living people
Kenyan emigrants to the United States
American financial analysts
American people of German-Jewish descent
21st-century African-American academics
Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences alumni
Henry Crown Fellows
Stanford University alumni
Princeton University faculty
Pomona College faculty