E lijah Eugene Cummings, the son of Ruth Elma (née Cochran) and Robert Cummings, was born in Baltimore on January 18, 1951. The son of sharecroppers, Elijah was the third born of seven children. His passion toward civil rights began at a young age, when he was merely 11-years old, he and several friends worked together to integrate a segregated swimming pool in South Baltimore. By 1969, Cummings would go on to graduate from Baltimore City College high school with honors, and subsequently went on to enroll at Howard University in Washington, D.C., where he was president of the sophomore class, treasurer of the student government, and then president of the student government. He was also inducted into the Phi Beta Kappa Society and obtained his Bachelor’s degree in Political Science in 1973. In 1976, Cummings went on to graduate from the University of Maryland School of Law with a Juris Doctorate and was admitted to the Maryland bar later that year. Cummings would practice law for approximately 19 years before ultimately being elected to the United States House of Representatives in 1996. He served in the Maryland House of Delegates for 14 years, and attributed his predecessor, Lena King Lee, for initiating his political career by raising cash and campaigning for him. Congressman Cummings was the first African American in the history of Maryland to be named “Speaker Pro Tempore,” which is the second highest position in the House of Delegates. He also served in the Maryland General Assembly as “Chairman of the Legislative Black Caucus of Maryland.” In addition to his number of professional and political successes, Cummings was also a member of a number of boards and commissions both in and outside of Baltimore. Elijah CUMMINGS [ 4 0 ] M O O R E & M O O R E
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