Charles Diggs

Born in Detroit, Michigan, Charles was the only child of Mayme E. Jones Diggs, and Charles Diggs Sr. He attended the University of Michigan, Detroit College of Law (1952-52), and Fisk University.{{Cite web |url=https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/encyclopedia/diggs-charles-c-jr|title=Diggs, Charles C., Jr. (1922-1998) |work=Martin Luther King Jr. And the Global Struggle for Freedom |access-date=December 4, 2019 }} He served in the United States Army from 1943 to 1945. After his discharge, Diggs worked as a funeral director. He served as a member of the Michigan Senate from the 3rd district 1951–54, just as his father had from 1937 to 1944.{{citation needed|date=March 2018}}

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.{{cite news |title=Charles Diggs Dies at 75 |first1=Richard, Staff Writer |last1=Pearson |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=August 26, 1998 |page=B06 |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/campaigns/junkie/links/diggs.htm |access-date=May 3, 2014}}

In 1954, Diggs defeated incumbent U.S. Representative George D. O'Brien in the Democratic Party primary elections for Michigan's 13th congressional district. He went on to win the general election to the 84th Congress and was subsequently re-elected to the next twelve Congresses, serving from January 3, 1955, until his resignation June 3, 1980.{{citation needed|date=March 2018}}

The first African American to be elected to Congress in Michigan, Diggs made significant contributions to the struggle for civil rights. 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, 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, a wealthy black surgeon and entrepreneur.David T. Beito and Linda Royster Beito, Black Maverick: T.R.M. Howard's Fight for Civil Rights and Economic Power (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2009) {{ISBN|0-252-03420-1}}.

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 Emmett Till, a black teenager from Chicago 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, the sheriff did not exempt him from Jim Crow 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.{{cite news | title = His Name Was Emmett Till | author = Thompson, Wright | date = 2021-07-22 | url = https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2021/09/barn-emmett-till-murder/619493/ | publisher = The Atlantic | access-date = 2021-07-22 }}

Following the trial, Diggs continued the fight for justice, calling upon President Eisenhower to call a special session of Congress to consider civil rights.Congressional Record, V. 144, PT. 14, September 9, 1998 to September 21, 1998

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 apartheid in South Africa. He was a committed publicist for the liberation cause in South Africa, 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.James Sanders, South Africa and the International Media (London, 2000). 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.{{cite book|last1=Nixon|first1=Ron|author-link=Ron Nixon|title=South Africa's Global Propaganda War|date=2016|publisher=Pluto Press|location=London, U.K.|isbn=9780745399140|oclc=959031269|page=48}}

Diggs was a founding member and the first chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus, 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.

In March 1978, Diggs was charged with taking kickbacks from staff whose salaries he raised. He was convicted on October 7, 1978, on 11 counts of mail fraud{{cite news | title = The Equal-Opportunity Culture of Corruption | author = Rudin, Ken | date = 2007-06-06 | url = https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=10770284 | publisher = NPR.org | access-date = 2007-07-29 }} 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.

Diggs died of a stroke at Greater Southeast Community Hospital in Washington, D.C. He is interred at Detroit Memorial Park in Warren, Michigan.{{cite web|last=Warikoo|first=Niraj|title=Advocate of civil rights in Congress|url=http://www.freep.com/news/obituaries/qdiggs26.htm|work=Detroit Free Press|date=August 26, 1998|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/19990203163514/http://www.freep.com/news/obituaries/qdiggs26.htm|archive-date=February 3, 1999|access-date=June 24, 2013}}

• List of African-American United States representatives
• List of American federal politicians convicted of crimes
• List of United States representatives expelled, censured, or reprimanded

{{Reflist|2}}

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{{CongBio|D000344}}

• [http://politicalgraveyard.com/bio/dickman-diket.html#510.94.02 The Political Graveyard]
• [http://congressionalbadboys.com/Diggs.htm Congressional Bad Boys]
• {{Find a Grave|22331064}}

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{{s-bef|before=George D. O'Brien}}

{{s-ttl|title=Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Michigan's 13th congressional district|years=1955–1980}}

{{s-aft|after=George Crockett Jr.}}

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{{s-ttl|title=Chair of the Congressional Black Caucus|years=1969–1972}}

{{s-aft|after=Louis Stokes}}

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{{s-bef|before=John L. McMillan}}

{{s-ttl|title=Chair of the House District of Columbia Committee|years=1973–1979}}

{{s-aft|after=Ron Dellums}}

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{{US House District of Columbia chairs}}

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{{U.S. Michigan Representatives}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Diggs, Charles}}

Category:1922 births

Category:1998 deaths

Category:20th-century African-American politicians

Category:20th-century Baptists

Category:African-American members of the United States House of Representatives

Category:African-American state legislators in Michigan

Category:Baptists from Michigan

Category:Censured or reprimanded members of the United States House of Representatives

Category:Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Michigan

Category:Fisk University alumni

Category:American funeral directors

Category:Michigan politicians convicted of crimes

Category:Democratic Party Michigan state senators

Category:Military personnel from Detroit

Category:Politicians convicted of mail and wire fraud

Category:Politicians from Detroit

Category:United States Army personnel of World War II

Category:United States Army soldiers

Category:University of Michigan alumni

Category:20th-century members of the Michigan Legislature

Category:20th-century members of the United States House of Representatives