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The Andrea Mitchell Center PodcastAuthor: Matthew Roth
The ANDREA MITCHELL CENTER FOR THE STUDY OF DEMOCRACY aims not just to promote, but to understand, democracy. Global in its outlook, multifaceted in its purposes, the Mitchell Center seeks to contribute to the ongoing quest for democratic values, ideas, and institutions throughout the world. In THE ANDREA MITCHELL CENTER PODCAST, we interview scholars, journalists, and public thinkers grappling with the challenges facing our democracy. Many of the episodes are linked to our other programming, such as our 2018-19 "Democracy in Trouble?" series, our 2019-20 "Reverberations of Inequality" series, and our ongoing "Capitalism / Socialism / Democracy." Other episodes are one-off interviews with scholars associated with the Mitchell Center -- or with thinkers whose work is central to our effort to understand democracy in all of its complexity. Language: en Genres: News, Politics, Science, Social Sciences Contact email: Get it Feed URL: Get it iTunes ID: Get it |
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Episode 7.17: The Forgotten Civil Rights Legacy of Congressman Charles C. Diggs, Jr.
Episode 17
Friday, 10 April, 2026
Interviewer: MATTHEW ROTH. The ways in which the Civil Rights Movement translated passion and protest into durable political change were complex, involving a wide range of actors beyond those most prominently enshrined in the popular imagination. In his new book, political scientist MARION ORR argues for the critical importance of a figure now widely forgotten: Michigan Congressman Charles C. Diggs, Jr., who during his tenure from 1955-1980 was a persistent and effective voice for desegregation and Black self-determination. In his discussion with historian Matthew Roth, Orr describes Diggs' roots in his Detroit family's funeral home, the House of Diggs; his political career as a pathbreaking Black Michigan Senator and then U.S. Congressman; his accomplishments, ranging from the desegregation of airline travel and Washington D.C. home rule to the founding of both the Congressional Black Caucus and institutions critical to the anti-Apartheid movement; and finally, to his downfall with a criminal conviction for the financial mismanagement of his congressional office. Orr's book is House of Diggs: The Rise and Fall of America's Most Consequential Black Congressman, Charles C. Diggs Jr.
