A01=Marion Orr
Alabama
anti-apartheid movement
Author_Marion Orr
Black power
Category=DNBH
Category=JBSL
Category=JPHL
Category=JPW
civil rights movement in Mississippi
D.C.
desegregation
Detroit
Emmett Till
eq_bestseller
eq_biography-true-stories
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
eq_society-politics
formation of the Congressional Black Caucus
home-rule in Washington
Jesse Jackson
Jr.
Martin Luther King
Michigan
Mississippi Democratic Freedom Party
National Black Political Convention
Randall Robinson
Simeon Booker
Trans Africa
U.S. Africa policy
voting rights in Selma
Product details
- ISBN 9781469689326
- Dimensions: 25 x 235mm
- Publication Date: 16 Sep 2025
- Publisher: The University of North Carolina Press
- Publication City/Country: US
- Product Form: Paperback
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At the height of the civil rights movement, Charles C. Diggs Jr. (1922–1998) was the consummate power broker. In a political career spanning 1951 to 1980, Diggs, Michigan’s first Black member of Congress, was the only federal official to attend the trial of Emmett Till’s killers, worked behind the scenes with Martin Luther King Jr., and founded the Congressional Black Caucus. He was also the chief architect of legislation that restored home rule to Washington, DC, and almost single-handedly ignited the American anti-apartheid movement in the 1960s. Drawing on extensive archival research, including Diggs’s rarely seen personal papers, FBI documents, and original interviews with family members and political associates, political scientist Marion Orr reveals that Diggs practiced a politics of strategic moderation. Orr argues that this quiet approach was more effective than the militant race politics practiced by Adam Clayton Powell and more appealing than the conservative Chicago-style approach of William Dawson—two of Diggs’s better-known Black contemporaries.
Vividly written and deeply researched, House of Diggs is the first biography of Congressman Charles C. Diggs Jr., one of the most consequential Black federal legislators in US history. Congressman Diggs was a legislative lion whose unfortunate downfall punctuated his distinguished career and pushed him and his historic accomplishments out of sight. Now, for the first time, House of Diggs restores him to his much-deserved place in the history of American politics.
Vividly written and deeply researched, House of Diggs is the first biography of Congressman Charles C. Diggs Jr., one of the most consequential Black federal legislators in US history. Congressman Diggs was a legislative lion whose unfortunate downfall punctuated his distinguished career and pushed him and his historic accomplishments out of sight. Now, for the first time, House of Diggs restores him to his much-deserved place in the history of American politics.
Marion Orr is the Frederick Lippitt Professor of Public Policy and professor of political science and urban studies at Brown University.
