Mfume, Kweisi << oom FOO may, kwah EE see >> (1948-…), was president and chief executive officer of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) from 1996 to 2004. Before he became head of the NAACP, Mfume served in the United States House of Representatives. Mfume returned to the House in 2020.
Mfume was born Frizzell Gray in Baltimore, Maryland, on Oct. 24, 1948. He later adopted his present name, an African name meaning Conquering Son of Kings. He earned a B.S. degree from Morgan State University in 1976 and an M.A. degree from Johns Hopkins University in 1984.
From 1987 to 1996, Mfume served in the U.S. House of Representatives as a Democrat representing Maryland. In Congress, Mfume promoted interests of the poor. In 1993, for example, he helped pass legislation that made more people eligible for food stamps and increased the availability of immunizations for uninsured children. From 1992 to 1994, he served as chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus, an organization of African American members of Congress that promotes the interests of Black people.
In December 1995, Mfume announced that he was leaving Congress to lead the NAACP. During his years as head of the organization, Mfume worked to improve the organization’s management practices and its financial stability. The NAACP was in debt when Mfume took office, but it was operating with no debt when Mfume left office in 2004.
In 2005, Mfume announced his candidacy for a U.S. Senate seat from Maryland. However, he lost the Democratic primary election for the seat to U.S. Representative Benjamin L. Cardin in 2006. Mfume won a special election in April 2020 to fill the U.S. House seat of Representative Elijah Cummings, who died in 2019. Mfume won election to a full two-year House term in November 2020. He was reelected in 2022.
