U.S. Representative Kweisi MfumeBack to top
U.S. Representative Kweisi Mfume (pronounced Kwah-EE-see Oom-FOO-may), proudly serves the residents of Maryland’s 7th District, which includes Baltimore, Baltimore County and Howard County.
Early years
Mfume was born, raised and educated in the city of Baltimore. He attended Morgan State University in Baltimore, Maryland where as an honors student he graduated magna cum laude. He later returned there to join the staff as an adjunct professor teaching courses in Political Science and Communications. He was voted the University’s 2013 Alumnus of the Year.
By the age of thirty-one he won his first election to the Baltimore City Council. During his seven years of service in local government, he chaired the City Council’s Committee on Health Policy and led the efforts to diversify city government, improve community safety, enhance business development and divest city funds from the then apartheid government of South Africa. He enrolled in and graduated from the Johns Hopkins University in 1984, earning a Master’s degree in Liberal Arts with a concentration in International Studies.
Congress (1986-1996)
At the age of thirty-eight, he was decisively elected to the United States Congress to represent Maryland’s 7th District, a seat that he would hold for the next decade during the terms of Presidents Reagan, Bush Sr. and Clinton. As a member of the House of Representatives, Congressman Mfume was served on several committees. He served on the Banking and Financial Services Committee and held the ranking seat on the General Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee. He also served as a member of the Committee on Education and helped to impact commerce and industry matters as a senior member of the Small Business Committee. While in his third term, he was chosen by the Speaker of the House to serve on the Ethics Committee and the Joint Economic Committee of the House and Senate where he was later elected Chairman.
Congressman Mfume consistently advocated landmark business and civil rights legislation. He successfully co-sponsored and helped to pass the Americans with Disabilities Act, strengthened the Equal Credit Opportunity Law and co-authored and successfully amended the Civil Rights Bill of 1991 to apply its provisions to U.S. citizens working for American-based companies abroad. He also sponsored legislative initiatives banning assault weapons and establishing stalking as a federal crime.
Congressman Mfume served as both Vice-Chair and later Chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus. He was regularly designated to preside as Speaker Pro Tempore of the House of Representatives. During his fifth term in office, he was appointed by his Caucus as Vice-Chairman for Communications.
NAACP
Kweisi Mfume left his Congressional seat in 1996 to become President and Chief Executive Officer of the NAACP. During his nine years with the organization, he significantly raised the national profile of the NAACP while helping to restore its prominence among the nation’s civil rights organizations. Throughout his tenure he helped establish 75 new college-based NAACP chapters across the nation. In 2000, Mfume worked to negotiate, develop and author the first ever signed Network Television Diversity Agreements with NBC, ABC, CBS and Fox. In 2003, he helped negotiate for and successfully secured the NAACP’s official United Nations’ Status as a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO).
Return to Congress
Mfume was sworn-in into the 116th U.S. Congress on May 5, 2020, after winning a special election to fill the remainder of the term after Congressman Elijah Cummings, the incumbent representative (and his friend of 42 years), died in office in October 2019. Mfume currently serves on the House Oversight Committee and the Small Business Committee.
Affiliations
- Currently serves as Chairman of the Morgan State University Board of Regents
- Vice-Chairman of the Board of Research America
- Johns Hopkins University Board of Trustees
- Member of the Omega Psi Phi Fraternity
- Member of the Gamma Boulé Sigma Pi Phi Fraternity
- Member of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry, 33° Prince Hall Affiliation Southern Jurisdiction of the United States of America
- Lifetime member of the Johns Hopkins and Morgan State University alumni associations.
Appointments
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Appointed by the Secretary of Health and Human Services as a member on the National Advisory Council of the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD) at the National Institutes of Health.
- Received a gubernatorial appointment to the Maryland Commission on African American History and Culture
Awards, Accolades & Other Achievements
- Previously named “Marylander of the Year” by both the Baltimore Sun newspaper and Maryland Magazine
- Recipient of the NAACP Image Award for national leadership
- Received a Telly Award for the Television documentary "Ticket to Freedom."
- Performed in concert with opera soprano Kathleen Battle, and with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra.