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House of Diggs: The Rise and Fall of America's Most Consequential Black Congressman, Charles C. Diggs Jr.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
June 20, 2026
I find the best biographies are the ones where I am going in totally cold and where the author is not looking to hide any aspect of the subject. Both of those things come together in House of Diggs by Marion Orr. It's not perfect, but a great introduction to an accomplished, but complicated individual.
Charles C. Diggs Jr. was a lot of things. He was in the army, worked as a funeral director, and, most consequentially, a member of the U.S. House of Representatives. He would end up being involved in the aftermath of the murder of Emmet Till, but also would involve himself in wrongdoing that would end his political career and put him in jail. You can accuse him of anything except leading a boring life.
Orr is clearly an admirer of Diggs and it shows through. I won't say he ignores the worst parts of Diggs. Those aspects are in here, but I am sure other people could say he takes it too easy on him for the criminal aspects and womanizing. However, there is so much to cover in Diggs' life that I didn't think it needed to be harped on. I would say that Orr's writing is pretty good but sometimes veers into feeling academic instead of dynamic. It's only now and again. If you want to learn more about Diggs, this is one to pick up.
(This book was provided as a review copy by Coriolis Company.)
Charles C. Diggs Jr. was a lot of things. He was in the army, worked as a funeral director, and, most consequentially, a member of the U.S. House of Representatives. He would end up being involved in the aftermath of the murder of Emmet Till, but also would involve himself in wrongdoing that would end his political career and put him in jail. You can accuse him of anything except leading a boring life.
Orr is clearly an admirer of Diggs and it shows through. I won't say he ignores the worst parts of Diggs. Those aspects are in here, but I am sure other people could say he takes it too easy on him for the criminal aspects and womanizing. However, there is so much to cover in Diggs' life that I didn't think it needed to be harped on. I would say that Orr's writing is pretty good but sometimes veers into feeling academic instead of dynamic. It's only now and again. If you want to learn more about Diggs, this is one to pick up.
(This book was provided as a review copy by Coriolis Company.)
January 6, 2026
House of Diggs was a good stepping stone into learning more about African American history in the 20th century - of which I know most basic things. Marion Orr is a political scientist and the book reads like it. HOD has a narrative structure that focuses most on the political history of Diggs life and less on the personal. The introduction of the book is very brief, which is very unusual in academic works; even biographies!
It is very clear that Marion Orr admires Diggs; he says everything but that however. I was skeptical at the fact that Orr chooses to gloss over the fact that Diggs was a womaniser, cheater, and thief. It is also clear that Diggs was a momma's boy, and that he was never told no in his life. The narrative would have been more enjoyable if Orr had shown the financial mismanagement Diggs occurs while working at his family's business would play into his 'fall' in Congress.
Personally, I believe one's personal life is a good reflection of the person themselves - especially when one is a public figure. Overall, the amount of facts in here regarding the political area at the time were enjoyable. The chapter on Emmitt Till had me crying. I have never heard of Charles Diggs before now, and now I know his story.
It is very clear that Marion Orr admires Diggs; he says everything but that however. I was skeptical at the fact that Orr chooses to gloss over the fact that Diggs was a womaniser, cheater, and thief. It is also clear that Diggs was a momma's boy, and that he was never told no in his life. The narrative would have been more enjoyable if Orr had shown the financial mismanagement Diggs occurs while working at his family's business would play into his 'fall' in Congress.
Personally, I believe one's personal life is a good reflection of the person themselves - especially when one is a public figure. Overall, the amount of facts in here regarding the political area at the time were enjoyable. The chapter on Emmitt Till had me crying. I have never heard of Charles Diggs before now, and now I know his story.
May 27, 2026
1950s and 1960s America saw the gradual and persistent courage of African Americans in pushing for equal rights. In his book House of Diggs: The Rise and Fall of America's Most Consequential Black Congressman, Charles C. Diggs Jr., Dr. Marion Orr, Frederick Lippitt Professor of Public Policy and professor of political science and urban studies at Brown University, relates the story of Charles C. Diggs Jr., a remarkable politician who advocated for change at local and federal levels, often with significant success. Diggs’ fall from grace has unfortunately marred his legacy, but Dr. Orr reclaims it through a sympathetic and engaging biography.
In the post-war boom, African Americans - deservedly so - desired to take advantage of the new opportunities for economic and social advancement. Jim Crow laws and pervasive racism and prejudice, however, severely stymied such progress throughout the U.S. According to the John F. Kennedy Library, “Throughout much of the South they were denied the right to vote, barred from public facilities, subjected to violence including lynching, and could not expect justice from the courts. In the North, Black Americans also faced discrimination in housing, employment, education, and many other areas.”
Writing in The Providence Eye, Diane Josefowicz offers an excellent and succinct overview of Charles C. Diggs Jr.:
“For someone who was, by all accounts, quiet and reserved, Charles Coles Diggs, Jr. — Michigan’s first Black member of Congress, founder of the Congressional Black Caucus, and icon of the Civil Rights era — lived a remarkably dramatic life of stratospheric highs followed by abysmal lows.”
Born in Detroit in 1922, Diggs Jr. was the son of Charles C. Diggs Sr. and Mayme Jones Diggs. His father assiduously built Detroit's largest funeral home - called House of Diggs - and served as the first African-American Democrat elected to the Michigan State Senate. After serving in the army from 1943 to 1945, Diggs Jr. joined the family business. The House of Diggs serviced not only the mortuary and funerary needs of Detroit's African American population; it also formed an important community from which Diggs Jr. - albeit reluctantly - would launch his political career.
During his time in the Army, Diggs was assigned to numerous posts in the Jim Crow South and experienced constant harassment, segregation, and ostracizing. Even his uniform failed to protect him from the rampant racism. Upon boarding a train to Georgia for further training, he recalled, “Once I crossed the geographic line into the South, I was transferred to the coach next to the locomotive. When I was seated to eat in the dining car, a green curtain was pulled around me technically separating me, even in a military uniform.” His experiences formulated and reinforced his belief in the incompatibility of racial discrimination and American democracy.
Diggs entered the American political sphere in 1954, when he was elected to the House of Representatives representing Michigan’s 13th congressional district. As Congressman, Diggs championed desegregating commercial air travel, racial equality in the military, home rule in Washington, D.C. and ending apartheid in Africa. Diggs also attended the trial of the men accused of murdering Emmett Till, a young African American boy who was visiting family in Mississippi, in 1955. His tenure only ended with his 1978 conviction of mail fraud and falsifying payroll forms. After the House censured him in 1979, Diggs resigned from Congress in 1980 and served some months in prison.
His conviction and censure have tarnished Diggs' reputation, but Dr. Orr convincingly compels us to reexamine this complex politician. While serious in tone and academic in nature, Dr. Orr’s prose and presentation brings Diggs’ story to a wider audience. It's a balanced portrayal, highlighting the many ways in which Diggs approached and advanced his causes with quiet courage and pragmatism while also recognizing his flaws.
We encounter a man who practiced what Dr. Orr calls “politics of strategic moderation”, “an approach that aimed to help Black Americans achieve political incorporation and become members of the governing coalition that dominated national policymaking on civil rights.” He favored bringing disparate groups together to achieve equality and not mutual exclusion. Strategic moderation reflects quiet policymaking and cooperation over less integrative methods, and it represents a hallmark of Diggs' political career.
Diggs proved a civil rights juggernaut, paving the way for further reform. We remember many of the great with whom the Michigan representative rubbed elbows including Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Coretta Scott King, John Lewis, Bayard Rustin, and many more. Some leaders, however, run the risk of vanishing, even as the work they championed continues well into the 21st century. Diggs’ personal flaws overshadowed his substantial and impactful legacy, but in House of Diggs, Dr. Orr has brought the Congressman’s story to life and reminded us that Diggs - quite rightly - deserves a second chance.
The book’s final paragraph offers a fitting tribute to this remarkable man:
“Diggs’s story is that of a man who loved his country and who wanted it to live up to its creed of equality; he was an imperfect man who nevertheless responded to a higher calling to serve and enabled genuine and lasting changes on American life. When Diggs’s work in the civil rights movement is considered alongside his pioneering accomplishments in Congress, few other Black civil rights leaders of his time, and perhaps no other Black member of Congress, can match either the scope of his achievements or the lasting, tangible impact of his life’s work upon the American people.”
Thank you to the Coriolis Company for both physical and digital copies of this book in exchange for my honest thoughts!
In the post-war boom, African Americans - deservedly so - desired to take advantage of the new opportunities for economic and social advancement. Jim Crow laws and pervasive racism and prejudice, however, severely stymied such progress throughout the U.S. According to the John F. Kennedy Library, “Throughout much of the South they were denied the right to vote, barred from public facilities, subjected to violence including lynching, and could not expect justice from the courts. In the North, Black Americans also faced discrimination in housing, employment, education, and many other areas.”
Writing in The Providence Eye, Diane Josefowicz offers an excellent and succinct overview of Charles C. Diggs Jr.:
“For someone who was, by all accounts, quiet and reserved, Charles Coles Diggs, Jr. — Michigan’s first Black member of Congress, founder of the Congressional Black Caucus, and icon of the Civil Rights era — lived a remarkably dramatic life of stratospheric highs followed by abysmal lows.”
Born in Detroit in 1922, Diggs Jr. was the son of Charles C. Diggs Sr. and Mayme Jones Diggs. His father assiduously built Detroit's largest funeral home - called House of Diggs - and served as the first African-American Democrat elected to the Michigan State Senate. After serving in the army from 1943 to 1945, Diggs Jr. joined the family business. The House of Diggs serviced not only the mortuary and funerary needs of Detroit's African American population; it also formed an important community from which Diggs Jr. - albeit reluctantly - would launch his political career.
During his time in the Army, Diggs was assigned to numerous posts in the Jim Crow South and experienced constant harassment, segregation, and ostracizing. Even his uniform failed to protect him from the rampant racism. Upon boarding a train to Georgia for further training, he recalled, “Once I crossed the geographic line into the South, I was transferred to the coach next to the locomotive. When I was seated to eat in the dining car, a green curtain was pulled around me technically separating me, even in a military uniform.” His experiences formulated and reinforced his belief in the incompatibility of racial discrimination and American democracy.
Diggs entered the American political sphere in 1954, when he was elected to the House of Representatives representing Michigan’s 13th congressional district. As Congressman, Diggs championed desegregating commercial air travel, racial equality in the military, home rule in Washington, D.C. and ending apartheid in Africa. Diggs also attended the trial of the men accused of murdering Emmett Till, a young African American boy who was visiting family in Mississippi, in 1955. His tenure only ended with his 1978 conviction of mail fraud and falsifying payroll forms. After the House censured him in 1979, Diggs resigned from Congress in 1980 and served some months in prison.
His conviction and censure have tarnished Diggs' reputation, but Dr. Orr convincingly compels us to reexamine this complex politician. While serious in tone and academic in nature, Dr. Orr’s prose and presentation brings Diggs’ story to a wider audience. It's a balanced portrayal, highlighting the many ways in which Diggs approached and advanced his causes with quiet courage and pragmatism while also recognizing his flaws.
We encounter a man who practiced what Dr. Orr calls “politics of strategic moderation”, “an approach that aimed to help Black Americans achieve political incorporation and become members of the governing coalition that dominated national policymaking on civil rights.” He favored bringing disparate groups together to achieve equality and not mutual exclusion. Strategic moderation reflects quiet policymaking and cooperation over less integrative methods, and it represents a hallmark of Diggs' political career.
Diggs proved a civil rights juggernaut, paving the way for further reform. We remember many of the great with whom the Michigan representative rubbed elbows including Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Coretta Scott King, John Lewis, Bayard Rustin, and many more. Some leaders, however, run the risk of vanishing, even as the work they championed continues well into the 21st century. Diggs’ personal flaws overshadowed his substantial and impactful legacy, but in House of Diggs, Dr. Orr has brought the Congressman’s story to life and reminded us that Diggs - quite rightly - deserves a second chance.
The book’s final paragraph offers a fitting tribute to this remarkable man:
“Diggs’s story is that of a man who loved his country and who wanted it to live up to its creed of equality; he was an imperfect man who nevertheless responded to a higher calling to serve and enabled genuine and lasting changes on American life. When Diggs’s work in the civil rights movement is considered alongside his pioneering accomplishments in Congress, few other Black civil rights leaders of his time, and perhaps no other Black member of Congress, can match either the scope of his achievements or the lasting, tangible impact of his life’s work upon the American people.”
Thank you to the Coriolis Company for both physical and digital copies of this book in exchange for my honest thoughts!
September 22, 2025
Thank you to Net Galley and the University of North Carolina press for the copy of House of Diggs.
This story on the life of Congressman Charles Diggs Jr. (D-Michigan) was interesting. My initial introduction to him was from one of my family members, who lived in Detroit in the congressman’s district and was a supporter and admirer of his. Diggs came from a family of note: his father served in the state senate in Michigan, but was also known for his funeral home business. Following in his dad’s footsteps, he would also go on to serve in the state senate, but had ambitions beyond that office and would go on to win a seat to the US House of Representatives. At the time Diggs first entered office, his colleagues included representatives William Dawson from Chicago, and Adam Clayton Powell from Harlem. Diggs was able to politically exist in the middle of Dawson, who was more conservative, and Powell, who was more progressive for that time. Diggs’ ability to carve out a path more in the middle allowed him to garner support as he was the main legislator behind the creation of the law that helped give home rule to DC. Diggs was also involved in the law that would desegregate the airlines. He was particularly skilled at coalition building, and was part of what became an anti-apartheid movement in the 1960s, and was a supporter of the civil rights movement.
Diggs would be more of a celebrated figure in African-American political history – which includes being the first chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus, but his public career would later end in scandal.
This was a deeply researched read about a man whose name should be more known. If you
This story on the life of Congressman Charles Diggs Jr. (D-Michigan) was interesting. My initial introduction to him was from one of my family members, who lived in Detroit in the congressman’s district and was a supporter and admirer of his. Diggs came from a family of note: his father served in the state senate in Michigan, but was also known for his funeral home business. Following in his dad’s footsteps, he would also go on to serve in the state senate, but had ambitions beyond that office and would go on to win a seat to the US House of Representatives. At the time Diggs first entered office, his colleagues included representatives William Dawson from Chicago, and Adam Clayton Powell from Harlem. Diggs was able to politically exist in the middle of Dawson, who was more conservative, and Powell, who was more progressive for that time. Diggs’ ability to carve out a path more in the middle allowed him to garner support as he was the main legislator behind the creation of the law that helped give home rule to DC. Diggs was also involved in the law that would desegregate the airlines. He was particularly skilled at coalition building, and was part of what became an anti-apartheid movement in the 1960s, and was a supporter of the civil rights movement.
Diggs would be more of a celebrated figure in African-American political history – which includes being the first chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus, but his public career would later end in scandal.
This was a deeply researched read about a man whose name should be more known. If you
September 7, 2025
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