Civics & Coffee: A History Podcast · Alycia Asai

The Power of Representation: Dr. Orr on House of Diggs

·54 min·3 clips

A federal jury in Washington, D.C., convicted Diggs on all 29 payroll charges.

Alicia opens the show with its usual promise of bite sized United States history and introduces Dr. Marion Orr. Orr joins as a political scientist and the inaugural Frederick Lippitt Professor of Public Policy at Brown University, where he focuses on urban politics, race and ethnic politics, and African American politics. He is there to discuss House of Diggs, The Rise and Fall of America's Most Consequential Black Congressman Charles C. Diggs Jr., the first biography of Michigan's first Black member of the U.S. House of Representatives. Alicia asks what made Diggs consequential, and Orr lays out how he used congressional office to push civil rights issues into national view. One early example is Diggs's decision to attend the Emmett Till trial, which Orr treats as a sign that Diggs saw himself as serving Black Americans well beyond Michigan. The discussion then moves to Martin Luther King Jr. and Diggs's close working relationship with him. Orr describes the two men as brothers in the struggle. He explains that Diggs could raise civil rights concerns on the floor of the House while King had deep ties across the South. That combination gave Diggs access to people and places he might not otherwise have reached. When Diggs traveled to Georgia, Louisiana, Florida, and other Southern states, King could point him toward local Black leaders he needed to know. The episode then turns to Selma. Orr recounts King's decision to get arrested there and refuse bail to keep voting rights in the spotlight. While King was in jail, he asked Diggs to organize a bipartisan delegation of House members to come to Selma, and in February 1965 they met with King and local leaders before returning to Washington to press President Johnson to pass the Voting Rights Act. Throughout the interview, Alicia keeps circling back to the idea that Diggs was a bridge between local struggle and national power. Her questions stay focused on how a Black congressman could turn moral urgency into institutional action. Orr gives each chapter of Diggs's career room to breathe. The result is not just a biography but a clear look at how representation worked in practice. It also shows how much depended on relationships, timing, and a willingness to use office for more than routine legislation. By the end, Diggs comes through as a far reaching and complicated figure whose influence extended well beyond Michigan. Alicia closes by calling the book highly accessible and hard to put down, and she encourages listeners to pick it up before thanking Dr. Orr for joining her.

As heard by us

A clear portrait of Charles Diggs Jr. and his role in Selma and beyond.

House of Diggs offers a focused look at Charles Diggs Jr. and the reach of his political work, with Alicia guiding Dr. Marion Orr through the book's account of Michigan's first Black member of the U.S. House.

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Why you'd press play

You want civil-rights history told through Charles C. Diggs Jr.'s role in Congress.

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