(AP)—A civil rights leader in Maryland who also served in the General Assembly for 20 years, has died at age 81.
The successor to the Rev. Emmett C. Burns Jr. in the legislature told The Baltimore Sun that Burns died Thursday at a local hospital from complications of a fall.
Burns was the first African American elected to statewide government office from Baltimore County when he joined the House of Delegates in the mid-1990s.
Burns led a successful campaign to name the Baltimore/Washington International Airport for Thurgood Marshall while a legislator.
He held NAACP leadership positions in Mississippi and the mid-Atlantic region.
A civil rights trailblazer, noted theologian and preacher of the Gospel for nearly 6 decades, Dr. Burns exemplified the meaning of servant leadership - whether from the pulpit, in the MD General Assembly as one of the first African Americans from Balto. Co. to hold state office.
— Councilman Julian E. Jones Jr (@julianejonesjr) March 20, 2022