The Honorable Elijah Eugene Cummings

Elijah Eugene Cummings was born on January 18, 1951, in Baltimore, Maryland, to Robert and Ruth Elma (Cochran) Cummings, former sharecroppers who came north seeking a better life. He was raised in South Baltimore, among the neighborhoods he would serve all his days.

A gifted student, he graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Howard University in 1973 with a degree in political science, and earned his law degree from the University of Maryland School of Law in 1976.

He served in the Maryland House of Delegates from 1983 to 1996, and in 1996 was elected to the United States House of Representatives for Maryland's 7th District, a seat he held until his death. In 2019 he became Chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform, a relentless advocate for Baltimore and for justice.

A devoted member of New Psalmist Baptist Church, he carried a preacher's cadence in a statesman's voice, and never left the community that raised him.

The Honorable Elijah E. Cummings passed on October 17, 2019, at the age of 68. On October 24, 2019, he lay in state in Statuary Hall at the United States Capitol, the first African American lawmaker so honored, and was laid to rest following his home-going at New Psalmist Baptist Church on October 25, 2019.