To celebrate Black History Month, each day this February we’re spotlighting an African-American from Maryland on our Facebook page. Today’s entry is Harry S. Cummings, the first African-American city councilman in Baltimore. Cummings was born in 1866 and was first elected to the Baltimore city council in 1890. During the 1904 Republican National Convention, Cummings gave a speech endorsing Theodore Roosevelt for the presidential nomination, at a time when there were vastly fewer speakers at national conventions. In his speech, Cummings said that a man “should be judged on merit alone” and that “every race and every religion” be protected by law. Cummings continued to serve on the city council and was elected again in 1907, 1911, and 1915. In office he was a strong advocate for education in his community. Cummings died on September 7, 1917 and is remembered as an African-American leader in Maryland.
Posted on: Fri, 21 Feb 2014 14:51:45 +0000
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