Rep. Elijah Cummings Is First Black Lawmaker to Lie in State at U.S. Capitol

Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD) is the first black American lawmaker to lie in state inside the National Statuary Hall on Capitol Hill.

Civil rights icon Rosa Parks, who died in 2005, and Capitol Police Officer Jacob Chestnut, who was killed by a gunman in 1998, were also given the honor bestowed upon only a small number of private citizens in years past.

NBC News shared a photo of the flag-draped casket on Twitter Thursday morning as it lay in the U.S. Capitol building:

Rep. Elijah Cummings becomes the first black lawmaker to lie in state in the US Capitol.

(Photo: Matt McClain/AP)https://t.co/0TKSL1Skfv pic.twitter.com/yKdgAPb0n2

— NBC News (@NBCNews) October 24, 2019

On October 17, Breitbart News reported that the 68-year-old, who had represented Maryland’s 7th Congressional District since 1996, died of “complications concerning longstanding health challenges” at Johns Hopkins Hospital.

On the day of his passing, the White House ordered the American flag to be flown at half-staff in his honor.

The official proclamation by President Trump read:

As a mark of respect for the memory and longstanding public service of Representative Elijah E. Cummings, of Maryland, I hereby order, by the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, that the flag of the United States shall be flown at half-staff at the White House and upon all public buildings and grounds, at all military posts and naval stations, and on all naval vessels of the Federal Government in the District of Columbia and throughout the United States and its Territories and possessions through October 18, 2019.

Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-TX) offered his condolences to Cummings’ family and friends following the news of his death.

“Rest in peace Elijah Cummings, a dedicated public servant and a good man. I pray for his family, loved ones and staff during this difficult time,” he wrote on Twitter.

Cummings’ funeral is scheduled to take place at the New Psalmist Baptist Church in Baltimore on Friday.

The service will include remarks given by former Presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton, former Democrat presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA).