Marion Orr

At the height of the civil rights movement, Charles C. Diggs Jr. (1922–1998) was the consummate power broker. In a political career spanning 1951 to 1980, Diggs, Michigan’s first Black member of Congress, was the only federal official to attend the trial of Emmett Till’s killers, worked behind the scenes with Martin Luther King Jr., and founded the Congressional Black Caucus. He was also the chief architect of legislation that restored home rule to Washington, DC, and almost single-handedly ignited the American anti-apartheid movement in the 1960s. Drawing on extensive archival research, including Diggs’s rarely seen personal papers, FBI documents, and original interviews with family members and political associates, political scientist Marion Orr reveals that Diggs practiced a politics of strategic moderation. Orr argues that this quiet approach was more effective than the militant race politics practiced by Adam Clayton Powell and more appealing than the conservative Chicago-style approach of William Dawson—two of Diggs’s better-known Black contemporaries. Vividly written and deeply researched, House of Diggs is the first biography of Congressman Charles C. Diggs Jr., one of the most consequential Black federal legislators in US history. Congressman Diggs was a legislative lion whose unfortunate downfall punctuated his distinguished career and pushed him and his historic accomplishments out of sight. Now, for the first time, House of Diggs restores him to his much-deserved place in the history of American politics.

At the height of the civil rights movement, Charles C. Diggs Jr. (1922–1998) was the consummate power broker. In a political career spanning 1951 to 1980, Diggs, Michigan’s first Black member of Congress, was the only federal official to attend the trial of Emmett Till’s killers, worked behind the scenes with Martin Luther King Jr., and founded the Congressional Black Caucus. He was also the chief architect of legislation that restored home rule to Washington, DC, and almost single-handedly ignited the American anti-apartheid movement in the 1960s. Drawing on extensive archival research, including Diggs’s rarely seen personal papers, FBI documents, and original interviews with family members and political associates, political scientist Marion Orr reveals that Diggs practiced a politics of strategic moderation. Orr argues that this quiet approach was more effective than the militant race politics practiced by Adam Clayton Powell and more appealing than the conservative Chicago-style approach of William Dawson—two of Diggs’s better-known Black contemporaries. Vividly written and deeply researched, House of Diggs is the first biography of Congressman Charles C. Diggs Jr., one of the most consequential Black federal legislators in US history. Congressman Diggs was a legislative lion whose unfortunate downfall punctuated his distinguished career and pushed him and his historic accomplishments out of sight. Now, for the first time, House of Diggs restores him to his much-deserved place in the history of American politics.

In 1956, the editor's father, John Holmes Johnson, cleared out his mother Janet's house after she died. Among her stuff, he found three old diaries, written by his maternal grandmother Marion Orr and her mother Mary Holmes (John's great-grandmother). He took the ancient notebooks home, put them in a brown manilla envelope and placed them in his filing cabinet. There they remained until he retired in the mid-1980s. For several years prior to his death in 2008, he took on the mammoth task of transcribing the handwritten diaries. He laboured over them for several years, deciphering the sometimes difficult to read handwritten script, and typing them up on his Amstrad computer and later on his Windows desktop. Both diarists were born and brought up on farms in the countryside surrounding the villages of Kilmacolm and Bridge of Weir in the West of Scotland. Both married farmers. Spanning the years between 1882 and 1944, the diaries paint a fascinating picture of the lives of these hard-working country folk during those sixty-two years. Not only did the two grannies record family fortunes and tragedies, they also mentioned international events of interest to them, such as the International Glasgow Exhibition, the 'Spanish Flu' epidemic and other events that affected them during the First and Second World Wars. Readers will be fascinated by the details recorded in the late 19th and early 20th centuries by these strong and characterful women.

In 1956, the editor's father, John Holmes Johnson, cleared out his mother Janet's house after she died. Among her stuff, he found three old diaries, written by his maternal grandmother Marion Orr and her mother Mary Holmes (John's great-grandmother). He took the ancient notebooks home, put them in a brown manilla envelope and placed them in his filing cabinet. There they remained until he retired in the mid-1980s. For several years prior to his death in 2008, he took on the mammoth task of transcribing the handwritten diaries. He laboured over them for several years, deciphering the sometimes difficult to read handwritten script, and typing them up on his Amstrad computer and later on his Windows desktop. Both diarists were born and brought up on farms in the countryside surrounding the villages of Kilmacolm and Bridge of Weir in the West of Scotland. Both married farmers. Spanning the years between 1882 and 1944, the diaries paint a fascinating picture of the lives of these hard-working country folk during those sixty-two years. Not only did the two grannies record family fortunes and tragedies, they also mentioned international events of interest to them, such as the International Glasgow Exhibition, the 'Spanish Flu' epidemic and other events that affected them during the First and Second World Wars. Readers will be fascinated by the details recorded in the late 19th and early 20th centuries by these strong and characterful women.

*** LARGE PRINT EDITION ***In 1956, the editor's father, John Holmes Johnson, cleared out his mother Janet's house after she died. Among her stuff, he found three old diaries, written by his maternal grandmother Marion Orr and her mother Mary Holmes (John's great-grandmother). He took the ancient notebooks home, put them in a brown manilla envelope and placed them in his filing cabinet. There they remained until he retired in the mid-1980s. For several years prior to his death in 2008, he took on the mammoth task of transcribing the handwritten diaries. He laboured over them for several years, deciphering the sometimes difficult to read handwritten script, and typing them up on his Amstrad computer and later on his Windows desktop. Both di arists were born and brought up on farms in the countryside surrounding the villages of Kilmacolm and Bridge of Weir in the West of Scotland. Both married farmers. Spanning the years between 1882 and 1944, the diaries paint a fascinating picture of the lives of these hard-working country folk during those sixty-two years. Not only did the two grannies record family fortunes and tragedies, they also mentioned international events of interest to them, such as the International Glasgow Exhibition, the 'Spanish Flu' epidemic and other events that affected them during the First and Second World Wars. Readers will be fascinated by the details recorded in the late 19th and early 20th centuries by these strong and characterful women.

In 1956, the editor's father, John Holmes Johnson, cleared out his mother Janet's house after she died. Among her stuff, he found three old diaries, written by his maternal grandmother Marion Orr and her mother Mary Holmes (John's great-grandmother). He took the ancient notebooks home, put them in a brown manilla envelope and placed them in his filing cabinet. There they remained until he retired in the mid-1980s. For several years prior to his death in 2008, he took on the mammoth task of transcribing the handwritten diaries. He laboured over them for several years, deciphering the sometimes difficult to read handwritten script, and typing them up on his Amstrad computer and later on his Windows desktop. Both diarists were born and brought up on farms in the countryside surrounding the villages of Kilmacolm and Bridge of Weir in the West of Scotland. Both married farmers. Spanning the years between 1882 and 1944, the diaries paint a fascinating picture of the lives of these hard-working country folk during those sixty-two years. Not only did the two grannies record family fortunes and tragedies, they also mentioned international events of interest to them, such as the International Glasgow Exhibition, the 'Spanish Flu' epidemic and other events that affected them during the First and Second World Wars. Readers will be fascinated by the details recorded in the late 19th and early 20th centuries by these strong and characterful women.

As recently as the early 1960s, Latinos were almost totally excluded from city politics. This makes the rise of Latino mayors in the past three decades a remarkable American story-one that explains ethnic succession, changing urban demography, and political contexts. The vibrant collection Latino Mayors features case studies of eleven Latino mayors in six American cities: San Antonio, Los Angeles, Denver, Hartford, Miami, and Providence. The editors and contributors analyze Latino mayors for their governing styles and policies. They describe how candidates shaped race, class, and economic issues-particularly in deracialized campaigns. Latino Mayors also addresses coalition politics, political incorporation, and how community groups operate, as well as the challenges these pioneers have faced in office from political tensions and governance issues that sometimes even harm Latinos. Ultimately, Latino Mayors charts the performances, successes, and failures of these elected officials to represent their constituents in a changing economic and urban environment. Contributors include: Stefanie Chambers, Carlos E. CuÉllar, Emily M. Farris, Maria Ilcheva, Robert Preuhs, Heywood T. Sanders, Ellen Shiau, and the editors.

As recently as the early 1960s, Latinos were almost totally excluded from city politics. This makes the rise of Latino mayors in the past three decades a remarkable American story-one that explains ethnic succession, changing urban demography, and political contexts. The vibrant collection Latino Mayors features case studies of eleven Latino mayors in six American cities: San Antonio, Los Angeles, Denver, Hartford, Miami, and Providence. The editors and contributors analyze Latino mayors for their governing styles and policies. They describe how candidates shaped race, class, and economic issues-particularly in deracialized campaigns. Latino Mayors also addresses coalition politics, political incorporation, and how community groups operate, as well as the challenges these pioneers have faced in office from political tensions and governance issues that sometimes even harm Latinos. Ultimately, Latino Mayors charts the performances, successes, and failures of these elected officials to represent their constituents in a changing economic and urban environment. Contributors include: Stefanie Chambers, Carlos E. CuÉllar, Emily M. Farris, Maria Ilcheva, Robert Preuhs, Heywood T. Sanders, Ellen Shiau, and the editors.

Why is it so difficult to design and implement fundamental educational reform in large city schools in spite of broad popular support for change? How does the politics of race complicate the challenge of building and sustaining coalitions for improving urban schools? These questions have provoked a great deal of theorizing, but this is the first book to explore the issues on the basis of extensive, solid evidence. Here a group of political scientists examines education reform in Atlanta, Baltimore, Detroit, and Washington, D. C., where local governmental authority has passed from white to black leaders. The authors show that black administrative control of big-city school systems has not translated into broad improvements in the quality of public education within black-led cities. Race can be crucial, however, in fostering the broad civic involvement perhaps most needed for school reform. In each city examined, reform efforts often arise but collapse, partly because leaders are unable to craft effective political coalitions that would commit community resources to a concrete policy agenda. What undermines the leadership, according to the authors, is the complex role of race in each city. First, public authority does not guarantee access to private resources, usually still controlled by white economic elites. Second, local authorities must interact with external actors, at the state and national levels, who remain predominantly white. Finally, issues of race divide the African American community itself and often place limits on what leaders can and cannot do. Filled with insightful explanations together with recommendations for policy change, this book is an important component of the debate now being waged among researchers, education activists, and the community as a whole.

An examination of why school reform has been difficult to achieve in Baltimore. It reveals the struggles of black civic leaders and the limitations placed on Baltimore's African American community as each has tried to rescue a failing school system.