• PhD in African Economic History, University of California, Los Angeles
• MA in American History, North Carolina Central University, Durham

• African Economic History and Development Strategies
• African American History
• US Public and Foreign Policy

• Chairman, Department of African Studies, Howard University

• Books
  • The Lagos Plan of Action vs. the Berg Report: The Contemporary Issues in African Economic Development 2^nd Ed. Coauthored with R. S. Browne (Virginia: Brunswick Publishing Co., 1985)
• Articles & Chapters in Books:
  • “Religious Beliefs and Economic Behavior in Contemporary Africa, South of the Sahara: linking Religion and Development” in Jacob Neusner (ed.), Religious Belief and Economic Behavior: Ancient Israel, Classical Christianity, Islam and Judaism, and the Contemporary Ireland and Africa (Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1999)
  • “Shaping the Future Relationships between the ACP and the United States of America,” ACP Conference – Illusion, Reality and Perspectives: ACP Migration, Development and the Year 2001 (London: Focus, May 1997)
  • “Entrepreneurship and Capitalism in Africa: Overview,” in Encyclopedia of Africa, Vol. I, edited by John Middleton (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1997), pp. 23843
  • “A Historical Perspective on the Lagos Plan of Action,” in Julius Nyang’oro & Timothy Shaw (eds.), Beyond Structural Adjustment in Africa: The Political Economy of Sustainable and Democratic Development (New York: Praeger, 1992)
  • “La Politique Américaine à l’égard de l’Afrique: Continuité et Changement, 1958-1988,” in Politique Étrangére, No 3. Automne 1988, 53é Année (Paris: Institut Français des relations internationals)
  • “Wage Labor in Kenya in the Nineteenth Century,” in Catherine Coquery Vidrovitch and Paul E. Lovejoy (eds.), The Workers of African Trade (Beverly Hills: Sage, 1985)
• Dr. Cummings contributed 12 distinct “Introductions” to the 12 volumes, Heritage Series of the African American Classics
  • Volume 1, Frederick Douglass, Life and Times of Frederick Douglass
  • Volume 2, Aunt Sally, The Cross, the Way of Freedom
  • Volume 3, Booker T. Washington, Up from Slavery
  • Volume 4, Sojourner Truth, A Bondswoman of Olden Times
  • Volume 5, Charles W. Chestnutt, The Wife of His Youth
  • Volume 6, Matthew A. Henson, A Negro Explorer at the North Pole
  • Volume 7, Paul Laurence Dunbar, The Life and Works of Paul Laurence Dunbar
  • Volume 8, James Weldon Johnson, The Autobiography of an exColored Man
  • Volume 9, Jean Toomer, Cane
  • Volume 10, William E.B. DuBois, The Souls of Black Folk
  • Volume 11, Carter G. Woodson, Miseducation of the Negro
  • Volume 12, James Weldon Johnson, God’s Trombone, and Phillis Wheatley, Poems on Various Subjects

As one of three contributing editors of the Howard University ArchivesNet [http://www. huarchivesnet. howard.edu], (the Howard - MCI Electronic Journal), his contributions include the following titles:

• Africa's Case for Economic Integration: Arguing For An “Institute On African Regional Integration,”
• “Accelerating and Sustaining African Development: Continuing the Search For A Dynamic Economic Strategy,”
• “African Regional Integration and Economic Cooperation”
• “Organ Transplantation and Religion: African Legacy in African-American Thought.”
• “Fair Trade or Free Trade in Africa?: Establishing a Position”

• President of the African Studies Association (ASA)
• Congressional Black Caucus Legislative Senior Africa Research Fellow (1984), Assigned to Congressman W.H. Gray, III former Chairman of the Budget Committee, U.S. House of Representatives
• Africa Policy Advisor, Jesse Jackson 1984 Democratic Presidential Election Campaign
• Special Contractor/Researcher (1986), U.S. Congress Office of Technology Assessment (African Agriculture Development Strategies)
• Senior American Scholar, Institute for International Education’s “South Africa Education Program (SAEP)”, 1993-97
• Howard University Team Leader, Observer Delegation to South African National Elections, April 26-28, 1994
• Howard University Republic of South Africa Scholar-in-Residence, Cape Town, Spring Semester 1998
• DAAD International Scholar, Bonn/Berlin, Germany
• Senior Academic Scholar for Africa, Comprand, Inc.: The Peoples Programme (German Foundation), 1995-present
• ACP-EU (European Union) Migration Program, 1995-97 (Brussels/London), 1995-97
• UNDP Human Rights Index Report Launching Committee, Bonn