BALTIMORE _ Before being honored by lawmakers at the U.S. Capitol and before thousands pack New Psalmist Baptist Church for his funeral, the late U.S. Rep. Elijah Cummings wanted the people of Baltimore to have a chance to bid him farewell.
The congressman, who had cancer and died last week at age 68, got his wish Wednesday, lying in repose at Morgan State University, where he proudly served on the Board of Regents for 19 years until his death.
A color guard and members of the Morgan State ROTC escorted the casket Wednesday morning into the university's Murphy Fine Arts Center, where a long line of constituents and admirers formed outside the doors of the Gilliam Concert Hall more than an hour before the all-day viewing began.
Myrtle Webb, a retired principal of Hilton Elementary in Northwest Baltimore who now lives in Jessup, woke up at 5 a.m. to make sure she would be one of the first to arrive. She and a friend wore orange Morgan State alumni sweatshirts to the viewing.
Webb remembered Cummings for his constituent service as much as his towering presence in Maryland and national politics.
"If you wrote or called him, I don't know how he did it, but he responded to everyone," she said. "If you had a little gathering _ coffee and doughnuts _ he would come. I wouldn't miss this today for nothing."
The congressman was a champion for science, technology engineering and mathematics education, especially in underprivileged schools, said Jonathan Wilson, director of the Science Engineering Mathematics and Aerospace Academy at Morgan State, which he said Cummings helped fund.
Cummings helped allocate and maintain grants to strengthen students' educations to make them more competitive for scholarships, internships and jobs, Wilson said.
"All of that is the fruit of the efforts by Congressman Cummings and Senator (Barbara) Mikulski in making sure funding is there for K-12 STEM education nationally," he said.
Inside the hall, Cummings lay in a navy blue suit in an open casket, accompanied by a folded American flag, two large bouquets and a uniformed ceremonial honor guard. Well-wishers moved past the late congressman and shook hands or hugged his widow, Maya Rockeymoore Cummings, while a video played highlights from a handful of his most rousing speeches, blasting child detention centers at the Mexican border and the Flint, Mich., water crisis.
The late congressman spoke fondly of Morgan State when he delivered the university's commencement address four months before his death.
"I am so proud to be associated with Morgan State University," he said. "It is one of the proudest things I do, sitting on this board."
In the address, delivered with a mix of his usual serious, booming preacher's tone and some light humor, he told the graduates about his childhood struggles in Baltimore and urged them to use the education they had received to stand up for the country in tumultuous times.
"We are at a crossroads," Cummings said. "At 68, I have now lived longer than I will live. Your lives are in front of you _ and so I beg you to go out and stand up for this democracy."
Mayor Bernard C. "Jack" Young stood in line with the many Baltimoreans filing into the concert hall Wednesday morning to pay his respects.
"Elijah was more than just an elected leader," Young said. "He was a public servant. He was my friend."
To Baltimore, Cummings was "a father figure, the protector, the defender," said Diane Thornton, a retired social worker who lives in Morgan Park. Thornton, who is in her 60s, said she wasn't going to let her arthritic knee stop her from waiting in line to bid farewell to the congressman.
"He wanted to provide for our city, the people, and enrich our lives," she said. "I'll stand here as long as it takes to pay my respects."
Vivian Ballard, a retired city health department office manager who lives in Belair-Edison, called him a "voice for the voiceless, for the underdog, not only in the city, but universally."
"He was speaking up on causes people wouldn't always think about," she said.
Janice Ray, 67, of Moravia, said she used to help out with Cummings' political campaigns.
She first met Cummings while taking classes at the Community College of Baltimore City in the 1970s, and she said he taught her to take pride in her community.
On Thursday, the late congressman will be taken to Washington, where he will lie in state in the National Statuary Hall of the U.S. Capitol.
An arrival ceremony at 11 a.m. will feature a wreath-laying, music from the Morgan State Choir and speeches by Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer, House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn, Sen. Ben Cardin of Maryland and Reps. Karen Bass of California, Mark Meadows of North Carolina and Emanuel Cleaver of Missouri.
The ceremony in the hall, which is south of the Capitol rotunda, will be limited to members of Congress and Cummings' relatives. But the public will be allowed in afterward, via the Capitol Visitor Center, to pay respects from 1 p.m. until 7 p.m.
A final viewing will be held before his funeral Friday at New Psalmist Baptist Church, his longtime church in Northwest Baltimore. That viewing is scheduled for 8 a.m., followed by the funeral service at 10 a.m.
The church, which can seat 4,000 people, expects an overflowing crowd to attend. Webb thinks people will begin arriving before dawn.
"If you're not there by 4 in the morning," she said, "you're not getting in."
