Charles Coles Diggs Jr. (December 2, 1922 – August 24, 1998) was an American

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, ...

from the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sove ...

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and t ...

who served in the state senate and U.S. House of Representatives. He was the first

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

elected to Congress from Michigan. A member of the Democratic Party, Diggs was an early participant in the

civil rights movement The civil rights movement was a nonviolent social and political movement and campaign from 1954 to 1968 in the United States to abolish legalized institutional racial segregation, discrimination, and disenfranchisement throughout the Unite ...

. In September 1955, the Michigan Representative garnered national attention when he attended the trial of the two white Mississippians accused of murdering

Emmett Till Emmett Louis Till (July 25, 1941August 28, 1955) was a 14-year-old African Americans, African American boy who was abducted, tortured, and Lynching in the United States, lynched in Mississippi in 1955, after being accused of offending a whi ...

. He was elected the first chairman of the

Congressional Black Caucus The Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) is a caucus made up of most African-American members of the United States Congress. Representative Karen Bass from California chaired the caucus from 2019 to 2021; she was succeeded by Representative Joyce B ...

and was a staunch critic of the

apartheid Apartheid (, especially South African English: , ; , "aparthood") was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. Apartheid was ...

regime in South Africa. Diggs resigned from the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they ...

and served 14 months of a three-year sentence for

mail fraud Mail fraud and wire fraud are terms used in the United States to describe the use of a physical or electronic mail system to defraud another, and are federal crimes there. Jurisdiction is claimed by the federal government if the illegal activity ...

, although he maintained his innocence.

Early life

Born in

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at t ...

, Michigan, Charles was the only child of Mayme E. Jones Diggs, and Charles Diggs Sr. He attended the

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

Detroit College of Law The Michigan State University College of Law (Michigan State Law or MSU Law) is the law school of Michigan State University, a public research university in East Lansing, Michigan. Established in 1891 as the Detroit College of Law, it was th ...

(1952-52), and

Fisk University Fisk University is a private historically black liberal arts college in Nashville, Tennessee. It was founded in 1866 and its campus is a historic district listed on the National Register of Historic Places. In 1930, Fisk was the first Africa ...

. He served in the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, ...

from 1943 to 1945. After his discharge, Diggs worked as a

funeral director A funeral director, also known as an undertaker (British English) or mortician (American English), is a professional involved in the business of funeral rites. These tasks often entail the embalming and burial or cremation of the dead, as ...

. He served as a member of the

Michigan State Senate The Michigan Senate is the upper house of the Michigan Legislature. Along with the Michigan House of Representatives, it composes the state legislature, which has powers, roles and duties defined by Article IV of the Michigan Constitution, adopt ...

from the 3rd district 1951–54, just as his father had from 1937 to 1944. He was rooted in his family's business, the House of Diggs, which at one time was said to be Michigan's largest funeral home.

Political career

In 1954, Diggs defeated incumbent U.S. Representative

George D. O'Brien George Donoghue O'Brien (January 1, 1900 – October 25, 1957) was a politician from the U.S. state of Michigan who served as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives on three separate occasions. Early life and education O'Brien was born in ...

in the Democratic Party primary elections for

Michigan's 13th congressional district Michigan's 13th congressional district is a United States congressional district in Wayne County, Michigan. It is currently represented by Democrat Shri Thanedar. The district includes portions of Detroit and some of its suburbs, and it was t ...

. He went on to win the

general election A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...

to the

84th Congress The 84th United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, composed of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, D.C. from January 3, 1955 ...

and was subsequently re-elected to the next twelve Congresses, serving from January 3, 1955, until his resignation June 3, 1980. The first African American to be elected to Congress in Michigan, Diggs made significant contributions to the struggle for

civil rights Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from infringement by governments, social organizations, and private individuals. They ensure one's entitlement to participate in the civil and political life ...

. In April 1955, three months after he was first sworn in to Congress, he gave a well-received speech to a crowd of about 10,000 in

Mound Bayou, Mississippi Mound Bayou is a city in Bolivar County, Mississippi, United States. The population was 1,533 at the 2010 census, down from 2,102 in 2000. It was founded as an independent black community in 1887 by former slaves led by Isaiah Montgomery. Mound ...

, at the annual conference of the Regional Council of Negro Leadership (RCNL), probably the largest civil rights group in the state. His host was the RCNL's leader, Dr.

T.R.M. Howard Theodore Roosevelt Mason Howard (March 4, 1908 – May 1, 1976) was an American civil rights leader, fraternal organization leader, entrepreneur and surgeon. He was a mentor to activists such as Medgar Evers, Charles Evers, Fannie Lou Hamer, A ...

, a wealthy black surgeon and entrepreneur.

David T. Beito David T. Beito (born 1956) is a historian and professor of history at the University of Alabama. Beito is the founder and one of the key contributors to the group weblog Liberty and Power, which is located at the History News Network. He manages t ...

and Linda Royster Beito, ''Black Maverick: T.R.M. Howard's Fight for Civil Rights and Economic Power'' (Urbana:

University of Illinois Press The University of Illinois Press (UIP) is an American university press and is part of the University of Illinois system. Founded in 1918, the press publishes some 120 new books each year, plus 33 scholarly journals, and several electronic proje ...

, 2009) . Later that same year, Diggs returned to Mississippi, where he received national attention as the only congressman to attend and monitor the trial of the accused killers of

, a black

teenager Adolescence () is a transitional stage of physical and psychological development that generally occurs during the period from puberty to adulthood (typically corresponding to the age of majority). Adolescence is usually associated with the te ...

from

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

who was murdered during a trip to the state. The outrage generated by the case gave a tremendous momentum to the emerging civil rights movement. Although he was a member of

Congress A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of ...

, the

sheriff A sheriff is a government official, with varying duties, existing in some countries with historical ties to England where the office originated. There is an analogous, although independently developed, office in Iceland that is commonly transla ...

did not exempt him from

Jim Crow The Jim Crow laws were state and local laws enforcing racial segregation in the Southern United States. Other areas of the United States were affected by formal and informal policies of segregation as well, but many states outside the Sou ...

treatment. Diggs had to sit at a small table along with black reporters. Soon after the trial concluded, white mobs began to search for the witnesses involved in the case, including then-18-year-old Willie Reed. Diggs personally escorted Reed to Detroit, after a nighttime escape from Reed's home in Drew, Mississippi to Memphis, Tennessee. There the young man changed his name to Willie Louis for safety. Following the trial, Diggs continued the fight for justice, calling upon President Eisenhower to call a special session of Congress to consider civil rights. In 1969, Diggs was appointed to the post of chairman of the Subcommittee on Africa of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, where he strongly advocated ending

in South Africa. He was a committed publicist for the liberation cause in

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring coun ...

, and his 'Action Manifesto' (1972) displayed his support for the armed struggle against apartheid. In it, Diggs criticized the United States government for decrying the use of such violence when it failed to condemn measures used by the South African government to subjugate the majority of its own people. Diggs also argued that American corporations were propping up the apartheid government through their investments, and he was banned from South Africa by its government for these positions. Diggs was a founding member and the first chairman of the

, a group of African-American representatives and senators working to address the needs and rights of black constituents. While chairman, Diggs successfully led a caucus boycott of President Nixon's State of the Union Address, following Nixon's refusal to meet to discuss issues relevant to African Americans.Clemons, M.L. (2010). ''African Americans in Global Affairs: Contemporary Perspectives.'' University Press of New England. This and similar work contributed to Diggs being named on the

Master list of Nixon political opponents Master or masters may refer to: Ranks or titles * Ascended master, a term used in the Theosophical religious tradition to refer to spiritually enlightened beings who in past incarnations were ordinary humans *Grandmaster (chess), National Master ...

. In March 1978, Diggs was charged with taking

kickbacks A kickback is a form of negotiated bribery in which a commission is paid to the bribe-taker in exchange for services rendered. Generally speaking, the remuneration (money, goods, or services handed over) is negotiated ahead of time. The kickbac ...

from staff whose salaries he raised. He was convicted on October 7, 1978, on 11 counts of mail fraud and filing false payroll forms. Diggs insisted he had done nothing wrong, and was re-elected while awaiting sentencing. He was censured by the House on July 31, 1979, and resigned from Congress June 3, 1980. He was sentenced to three years in prison and served 14 months.

Personal life

Diggs died of a stroke at Greater Southeast Community Hospital in Washington, D.C. He is interred at Detroit Memorial Park in

Warren, Michigan Warren is a city in Macomb County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The 2020 Census places the city's population at 139,387, making Warren the largest city in Macomb County, the third largest city in Michigan, and Metro Detroit's largest suburb. ...

References

External links

The Political Graveyard
* , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Diggs, Charles 1922 births 1998 deaths 20th-century African-American politicians 20th-century American politicians 20th-century Baptists African-American members of the United States House of Representatives African-American state legislators in Michigan Baptists from Michigan Censured or reprimanded members of the United States House of Representatives Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Michigan Fisk University alumni American funeral directors Michigan politicians convicted of crimes Democratic Party Michigan state senators Military personnel from Detroit Politicians convicted of mail and wire fraud Politicians from Detroit United States Army personnel of World War II United States Army soldiers University of Michigan alumni African-American men in politics

Early life

Political career

Personal life

See also

References

External links