Professor Cummings is An African economic historian with an intellectual publication focus initially on labor and transport systems in East Africa. His research writings include complex emergencies, such as famine and drought in Africa, African migration and national development, US public policy towards Africa and African economic systems, capitalism, and regional trade developments. He led the Howard University's Observer Delegation to South Africa’s First Democratically-held National Elections in 1994 and served as Howard University’s second Republic of South Africa Scholar-in- Residence in 1998. Among others, he served as president of the African Studies Association, Special African Policy Advisor and consultant to Rev. Jesse Jackson’s 1984 Presidential Campaign, the Congressional Black Caucus Senior Africa Research Fellow --Assigned to Congressman William H. Gray, III (D-Pa.), former Chairman of the Budget Committee, U.S. House of Representatives, Special Senior American Scholar, Institute for International Education’s “South Africa Education Program (SAEP)”, and Senior Academic Scholar for Africa, Comprand, Inc. (London) and The Peoples Programme. Dr. Cummings served as the principal for the TransAtlantic Conference on Racism and Xenophoba in the US and Europe and most recently as a consultant to the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (Geneva).