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

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 ...

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 ...

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

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

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: * * * * * * * * * * * * * two months afte ...

. 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

’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.

References

External links

Omarwasow.com
- official website *
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