BALTIMORE (AP) - Congressman and civil rights champion Elijah Cummings is set to receive a final farewell in his beloved Baltimore.
Former Presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton are among the scheduled speakers for the funeral Friday at New Psalmist Baptist Church, where Cummings worshipped for nearly four decades.
Bishop Walter S. Thomas Jr., the church's pastor, will deliver the eulogy.
Maryland Comptroller Peter Franchot will be attending the Baltimore service.
He recalls, “I just happened to remember he was so personable, but also that so powerful – probably heard that speech a hundred times where he describes the urgency of acting now, by describing a minutes has sixty seconds. It still affects me because he was so authentic.”
Cummings died Oct. 17 at age 68 of complications from longstanding health problems. A son of sharecroppers, he became a lawyer and elected official.
He represented a congressional district that includes his hometown of Baltimore since 1996 and most recently led one of the U.S. House committees conducting an impeachment inquiry of President Donald Trump.
On Thursday, he became the first African American lawmaker to lie in state in the U.S. Capitol.
