Harry Sythe Cummings

Harry Sythe Cummings

NPS

Quick Facts

Significance:

Harry Sythe Cummings, son of Henry Cummins and first African American elected to Baltimore City Council.

Place of Birth:

Baltimore's Eleventh Ward

Date of Birth:

May 1866

Place of Death:

1318 Druid Hill Avenue

Date of Death:

September 7, 1917

Place of Burial:

Baltimore

Harry S. Cummings (1866-1917), was the first African American elected to Baltimore City Council. The Cummings family played a huge role for civil rights in the Baltimore and Towson area.

Harry Sythe Cummings was born in Baltimore's Eleventh Ward in May 1866. He was the second son of Henry Cummings (c. 1827-1906), who had begun life enslaved at White Marsh farm by Charles Carnan Ridgely of Hampton. Harry had five brothers and three sisters. Born a free man, Harry's education was the foremost priority of his mother Eliza Jane Davage Cummings, who worked hard as a seamstress and running a boarding house to assist chef Henry in providing for the family.

After attending local public schools, Harry graduated at age 19 from Lincoln University in Chester County, Pennsylvania. He then became the one of the first two African Americans to graduate from the University of Maryland Law School in 1889.

Harry's career and achievements grew rapidly. At the young age of 24 in 1890, he ran successfully for the City Council in Baltimore, thereby becoming the first African American to serve on that body. He was reelected a number of times in 1891, 1897, and 1907-1917. Harry became very active in Republican politics for the state of Maryland as well as Baltimore city, speaking to enthusiastic crowds wherever he went. This led to the pinnacle of his national political recognition when he was asked to deliver a seconding speech for President Theodore Roosevelt at the 1904 Republican Party Convention in Chicago.

Harry Cummings died on September 7, 1917 at his home, 1318 Druid Hill Avenue, a week after he suffered a stroke and lapsed into unconsciousness. His funeral on September 10 attracted many dignitaries and luminaries.

His sister, Ida R. Cummings also played a huge role in the Baltimore area and the Black Community. The Cummings family is an example of how each person can make a difference. They were on the front lines from the suffrage movement to supporting amendments to better the rights of Black Americans. Descendants of the family still live in the area and nearby states.
 

• “The Cummings Family: Piecing A Family Back Together,” March 27, 2019, (last accessed June 17, 2019) The Cummings Family (arcgis.com) 
• Maryland State Archives, February 03, 1998 Black Baltimore 1870-1920, Harry S. Cummings Personal Life, Maryland State Archives 
• Study by Hampton NHS, NPS.