New Books Network House of Diggs: The Rise and Fall of America’s Most Consequential Black Congressman, Charles C. Diggs Jr.
Nov 6, 2025
Dr. Marion Orr, a political scientist and professor at Brown University, dives into the fascinating life of Charles C. Diggs Jr., Michigan’s first Black Congressman and a key player in the civil rights movement. Orr discusses Diggs's strategic moderation in politics, his work with Martin Luther King Jr., and his legislative achievements like restoring home rule to DC. He highlights Diggs’s lesser-known contributions to the anti-apartheid movement and the founding of the Congressional Black Caucus, revealing how his groundbreaking career has often been overlooked.
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Reluctant Start Sparks Lifetime Career
- Charles Diggs Jr. reluctantly ran for his father's Michigan state senate seat after Republicans refused to seat his father following a conviction.
- He won the special election and that reluctant entry launched his long political career leading to Congress in 1955.
Funeral Home As Community Power
- The House of Diggs funeral home was a major Black-owned institution that served migrants and maintained cultural burial traditions.
- Its community philanthropy and reputation helped make the Diggs family a Black political and civic elite in Detroit.
Near-Death Lesson In Alabama
- While stationed in Tuskegee, Alabama, Diggs called a white bus driver "buddy" and was threatened with a gun for it.
- He kept the incident private, but it profoundly shaped his view of southern racism and informed his later civil-rights work.
