Legislative Black Caucus of Maryland facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
Legislative Black Caucus of Maryland

Motto	Facing The Rising Sun of a New Day Begun
Formation	1970
Type	Political organization
Legal status	501(c)(4)
Purpose	public policies
Headquarters	Lowe House Office Building
Location	Annapolis, Maryland
Region served	Maryland, United States of America
Membership	57 members, 2019–22 Maryland Assembly: 12 Senators 45 Delegates
Official language	English
Chairwoman	Jheanelle Wilkins
Parent organization	National Black Caucus of State Legislators
Affiliations	Maryland Legislative Black Caucus Foundation
Staff	1
Volunteers	10
Website	http://www.marylandblackcaucus.org

The Legislative Black Caucus of Maryland, Inc. is a group of African American leaders. These leaders are elected to the Maryland General Assembly. They work together to help people in Maryland.

This group is also called The Maryland Legislative Black Caucus. It started in 1970 with 17 members. Today, it has grown to 58 members. It is one of the biggest groups like this in the United States.

How the Caucus Started

When Was the Caucus Formed?

The Caucus was officially started in 1970. It was created by Lena King Lee. She was a member of the Maryland House of Delegates at the time.

What the Caucus Does

Helping All African Americans in Maryland

The Caucus works like a special team for African Americans in Maryland. They write new laws and support bills. These laws are meant to help meet the needs of their communities.

They also look at all proposed laws. They make sure these laws will be fair for Black people.

Representing the Entire State

Members of the Caucus come from different parts of Maryland. This helps them bring ideas from all over the state. They share a Black perspective with the rest of the Legislature.

The Caucus also works to create public policies. These policies help improve social, cultural, and economic life for Black people. They also do research to find facts and figures. This data helps them support their ideas for new laws.

Who Are the Current Members?

Members of the 2022 Maryland Legislative Black Caucus in the Maryland Statehouse

Caucus Leaders for 2022–2024

These are the main leaders of the Caucus:

Senators in the Caucus

Here are the Senators who are part of the Caucus:

District	County(s) represented	Member Senator	Party	First elected	Committee
10	Baltimore County	Delores G. Kelley	Democratic	1994	Finance (Chair)
20	Montgomery	Will Smith	Democratic	2016	Judicial Proceedings (Chair)
24	Prince George's	Joanne C. Benson	Democratic	1998	Finance
25	Prince George's	Melony G. Griffith	Democratic	2019	Budget and Taxation (President Pro Tem)
26	Prince George's	Obie Patterson	Democratic	2019	Education, Health, and Environmental Affairs
28	Charles	Arthur Ellis	Democratic	2019	Education, Health, and Environmental Affairs
40	Baltimore City	Antonio Hayes	Democratic	2019	Finance
41	Baltimore City	Jill P. Carter	Democratic	2018	Judicial Proceedings
43	Baltimore City	Mary L. Washington	Democratic	2019	Judicial Proceedings
44	Baltimore City and County	Charles E. Sydnor III	Democratic	2020	Judicial Proceedings
45	Baltimore City	Cory V. McCray	Democratic	2019	Budget and Taxation
47	Prince George's	Malcolm Augustine	Democratic	2019	Finance

Delegates in the Caucus

These are the Delegates who are part of the Caucus:

District	County represented	Member Delegate	Party	First elected	Committee
8	Baltimore County	Carl W. Jackson	Democratic	2019	Economic Matters
10	Baltimore County	Adrienne A. Jones	Democratic	1997	House Speaker
10	Baltimore County	Benjamin Brooks	Democratic	2015	Economic Matters
12	Baltimore County and Howard	Terri L. Hill	Democratic	2015	Health & Government Operations
13	Howard	Vanessa Atterbeary	Democratic	2019	Ways and Means (Chair)
14	Montgomery	Pamela E. Queen	Democratic	2016	Judiciary
18	Montgomery	Alfred C. Carr Jr.	Democratic	2007	Environmental Matters
19	Montgomery	Charlotte Crutchfield	Democratic	2019	Judiciary
20	Montgomery	Jheanelle Wilkins	Democratic	2017	Ways & Means
21	Anne Arundel and Prince George's	Joseline Peña-Melnyk	Democratic	2006	Health & Government Operations (Vice Chair)
22	Prince George's	Nicole A. Williams	Democratic	2019	Judiciary
22	Prince George's	Alonzo T. Washington	Democratic	2012	Ways & Means (Vice Chair)
23B	Prince George's	Marvin E. Holmes Jr.	Democratic	2002	Environmental Matters
23B	Prince George's	Cheryl S. Landis	Democratic	2022	Health and Government Operations
24	Prince George's		Democratic
24	Prince George's	Andrea Harrison	Democratic	2019	Environment & Transportation
24	Prince George's	Jazz Lewis	Democratic	2017	Judiciary
25	Prince George's	Nick Charles	Democratic	2019	Ways & Means
25	Prince George's	Karen Toles	Democratic	2022	Judiciary
25	Prince George's	Darryl Barnes	Democratic	2015	Ways & Means
26	Prince George's	Jay Walker	Democratic	2006	Ways & Means
26	Prince George's	Veronica L. Turner	Democratic	2019	Ways & Means
27A	Prince George's and Charles	Susie Proctor	Democratic	2016	Judiciary
27B	Calvert and Prince George's	|Rachel Jones	Democratic	2022	Judiciary
28	Charles	C. T. Wilson	Democratic	2010	Economic Matters (Chair)
28	Charles	Edith J. Patterson	Democratic	2015	Ways & Means
28	Charles	Debra Davis	Democratic	2019	Judiciary
30A	Anne Arundel	Shaneka Henson	Democratic	2019	Appropriations
32	Anne Arundel	J. Sandy Bartlett	Democratic	2019	Judiciary
32	Anne Arundel	Mike Rogers	Democratic	2019	Economic Matters
37A	Dorchester and Wicomico	Sheree Sample-Hughes	Democratic	1998	Health & Government Operations/ Speaker Pro Tem
39	Montgomery	Gabriel Acevero	Democratic	2019	Appropriations
40	Baltimore City	Frank M. Conaway Jr.	Democratic	2006	Judiciary
40	Baltimore City	Melissa Wells	Democratic	2019	Environment & Transportation
40	Baltimore City	Nick Mosby	Democratic	2017	Ways & Means
41	Baltimore City	Tony Bridges	Democratic	2019	Environment & Transportation
43	Baltimore City	Curt Anderson	Democratic	1983	Judiciary
44A	Baltimore City	Roxane L. Prettyman	Democratic	2021
45	Baltimore City	Talmadge Branch	Democratic	1994	Appropriations
45	Baltimore City	Chanel Branch	Democratic	2020	Ways & Means
45	Baltimore City	Stephanie M. Smith	Democratic	2019	Ways & Means
46	Baltimore City	Robbyn Lewis	Democratic	2017	Environment & Transportation
47A	Prince George's	Diana M. Fennell	Democratic	2015	Economic Matters
47A	Prince George's	Julian Ivey	Democratic	2019	Ways & Means
47B	Prince George's	Wanika B. Fisher	Democratic	2019	Judiciary

History of the Caucus

Former chairmen Trotter and Anderson with Rev. Jesse Jackson during a Caucus meeting in Annapolis, Maryland (1988)

The Legislative Black Caucus of Maryland started in 1970. It was first called the Maryland Legislative Black Caucus. The group has grown a lot since then. It went from 17 members to 44 members.

For a long time, only members from Prince George's County and Baltimore City joined. Now, the Caucus includes elected leaders from other areas too. These include Baltimore, Montgomery, and Charles counties. It also includes members from the Eastern Shore of Maryland.

Past Leaders of the Caucus

Parren Mitchell receiving a Maryland House of Delegates citation from the Legislative Black Caucus of Maryland and House Speaker Ben Cardin on the occasion of his retirement. (from l-r: Delegates Elijah Cummings, Clarence Davis, Hattie Harrison, John Douglass, Nathaniel Oaks, Ben Cardin, Pete Rawlings, Parren Mitchell, Curt Anderson, Ruth Kirk, Ralph Hughes, Larry Young, Wendell Phillips, Margaret "Peggy" Murphy

The 1992 Members of Maryland's Legislative Black Caucus:
Front row l-r J. Jeffries, C. Jones, H. Harrison, M. Murphy
2nd row: J. Proctor, N. Exum, T. Fulton, B. Tignor, R. Kirk, C. Howard
3rd row: J. Benson, C. Anderson, S. Parham, N. Irby
back row: J. Douglass, C. Davis, S. Marriott, C. Blount, L. Young

Here is a list of people who have led the Legislative Black Caucus of Maryland:

Chamber	Name	Years in Charge	County
Delegate	Arthur King	1970–1972	Prince George's
Delegate	Lloyal Randolph	1972–1975	Baltimore City
Senator	Robert Douglas	1976–1978	Baltimore City
Delegate	Arthur G. Murphy Sr.	1978	Baltimore City
Senator	Robert Douglas	1978–1980	Baltimore City
Delegate	Frank Conaway Sr.	1981–1982	Baltimore City
Senator	Clarence W. Blount	1982–1984	Baltimore City
Delegate	Elijah Cummings	1984–1985	Baltimore City
Senator	Decatur "Bucky" Trotter	1986–1988	Prince George's
Delegate	Curt Anderson	1988–1990	Baltimore City
Delegate	Christine M. Jones	1991–1992	Prince George's
Delegate	John D. Jefferies	1992–1994	Baltimore City
Delegate	Joanne C. Benson	1995–1996	Prince George's
Senator	Larry Young	1996–1997	Baltimore City
Delegate	Carolyn J. B. Howard	1998–2000	Prince George's
Delegate	Talmadge Branch	2000–2002	Baltimore City
Delegate	Obie Patterson	2002–2004	Prince George's
Delegate	Rudolph C. Cane	2004–2006	Wicomico
Senator	Verna L. Jones	2006–2008	Baltimore City
Delegate	Veronica L. Turner	2008–2010	Prince George's
Senator	Catherine Pugh	2010–2012	Baltimore City
Delegate	Aisha N. Braveboy	2012–2014	Prince George's
Delegate	Barbara A. Robinson	2014–2016	Baltimore City
Delegate	Cheryl Glenn	2016–2018	Baltimore City
Delegate	Darryl Barnes	2018–2022	Prince George's

Laws Passed by the Caucus

Important Laws from 2007

In 2007, the Caucus helped pass several important laws. One law made sure that state workers earned a "living wage." This means they earned enough money to live comfortably. The amount was different depending on where they lived in Maryland.

Another law made it easier for people to vote. It allowed people who had been convicted of most crimes to vote. They could vote as long as they were not in prison or on parole for a serious crime.

The Caucus also supported a law about Darfur. This law encouraged companies to avoid doing business in Sudan. This was to help stop human rights problems there.

Finally, the Caucus supported a resolution. This resolution expressed regret for Maryland's past role in slavery. It also acknowledged the unfair treatment that came from slavery.

The Caucus also helped get money for the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial. They helped donate $500,000 to the memorial in Washington D.C.

Important Laws from 2009

In 2009, the Caucus helped pass more key laws:

• ID Cards for Released Inmates: This law makes sure that people leaving state prisons get an ID card. This helps them get jobs and housing.
• Help for Minority Businesses: Two laws helped minority-owned businesses. One law adjusts how much money a business owner can have to qualify for special programs. The other law helps create a list of minority businesses. This list shows which businesses can or cannot be part of state programs.
• Task Force on Prisoner Reentry: This law created a special group. This group studies how to help people who have been in prison. They work to make sure these people can successfully return to their communities.

The Caucus also helped get money for important projects in 2009:

• Bowie State University received $34 million for a new arts building.
• Coppin State University received $4.1 million for a science and technology center.
• Morgan State University received $43.5 million for campus updates and new schools.
• Funding continued for programs that help minority businesses.
• Money was given to the Office of Minority Health for programs to help babies.