Elijah Cummings
Iconic Graduates
House Representative, Orator, Civil Rights Leader
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Field of Study
BA in Liberal Arts
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Year Graduated
1973
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Affiliation
Alumni
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Hometown
Baltimore, MD
Quote
I will fight until death to make sure every citizen…has that right to vote.Biography
Rep. Elijah E. Cummings was a lawyer, orator and advocate who worked throughout his lifetime to preserve American democracy. Born to former sharecroppers in Baltimore, Maryland in 1951, Cummings was no stranger to adversity. With the encouragement of his mother, who had only a fourth-grade education herself, Cummings went on to become the first African American in Maryland history to be named Speaker Pro Tempore, a senior member of the majority party chosen for skill in presiding. Elijah Cummings graduated from Howard University in 1973 with a bachelor’s degree in political science. He then went to law school at the University of Maryland. He maintained a close relationship with Howard University throughout his lifetime. Cummings practiced law and served in the Maryland House of Delegates for 14 years. In 1996, he was elected to the Federal House of Representatives, where he advocated for the working class in his Black-majority district. He became a powerful voice against voter suppression, launching investigations in Georgia, Texas, and Kansas, as well as monitoring organizations accused of targeting voters of color. The issue of voter suppression was personal to Cummings, who, during a speech in February 2019, recalled his mother’s dying words: “Do not let them take our votes away from us.” In that same speech, Cummings vowed to fight until death to defend the right to vote—and fight he did, until his passing in October of 2019. Rep. Elijah E. Cummings’s legacy as an advocate who fought tirelessly for the rights of all Americans lives on, both at Howard and in the countless lives he touched.