House of Diggs

“A rewarding portrait of Diggs’s career as a civil-rights activist and legislator in [Marion Orr’s] exhaustively researched biography. . . . [A]stutely portrays how Diggs’s personal failures and weaknesses counterbalanced his impressive professional strengths and prematurely ended a career of no little significance.”—David Garrow, Wall Street Journal

“A very strong political biography and a worthy addition to my library about the Civil Rights movement. . . . I highly recommend taking a look.”—Infinite Free Time

“The first biography of Michigan’s first Black Congressman Charles C. Diggs Jr., one of the most consequential Black federal legislators in US history. Along with Congressman Rangel, he helped found the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC), a caucus that continues to serve as the moral compass of Congress.”—Amsterdam News

“A moving encounter with a flawed man and a gifted politician, as charming and personable as he was motivated and organized, seemingly capable of anything. His achievements are so many and varied as to defy listing. Simply, Diggs was a powerhouse.”—Providence Eye

“House of Diggs is definitely among the finest biographies of a Congress member that I have read in many years. Professor Orr explains Congressman Diggs’s personal and political lives, while also resurrecting memories of many of his subject’s largely long-forgotten Congressional colleagues. He has crafted a splendid addition to the literature on Congress.”—Richard R. Valcourt, Editor-in-Chief Emeritus, International Journal of Intelligence and CounterIntelligence

“Orr’s research and writing provide a rounded perspective of a complex man, his origins, and the influences that formed his character. While this is a work of history, it’s also a tragedy in the Shakespearean sense.”—California Review of Books

An authoritative biography based on archival research and interviews with many of Diggs’s friends and associates as well as with members of his family.”—Carl Rallyson, New York Sun.

“[A] fine biography of Congressman Charles Diggs Jr. . . . Orr [writes] with great care and sensitivity.”—North Carolina Historical Review

“The definitive biography of the civil rights legislator we never should have forgotten. This book will change our collective understanding of Charles C. Diggs Jr., the civil rights era, and the political battles we're still fighting today.”—Van Jones, CNN host and New York Times best-selling author

“Engaging, essential, and meticulously researched. Marion Orr reveals Rep. Charles C. Diggs Jr.’s pivotal role in the civil rights movement at a time when Black politics shifted 'from protest to elections.' House of Diggs details how Congressman Diggs’s dogged persistence and a strategically moderate approach to building coalitions changed the landscape of segregated America.”—Tamara Payne, Pulitzer Prize–winning coauthor of The Dead Are Arising: The Life of Malcolm X