Louis S. Diggs

Louis S. Diggs (born April 13, 1932 in Baltimore, Maryland) is an African-American writer and historian specializing in the African-American history of Baltimore County, Maryland. As a chronicler of the county's African-American legacy, his work illuminates the historic past of its Black communities. In addition to social history, Diggs has published on Baltimore African-American military records from the American Civil War and the Maryland Army National Guard.[1]

Military career

Louis Diggs addressing The Monumental City Guards
Diggs at the 2014 ceremony celebrating the 231st Transportation Truck Battalion's 135th anniversary of its establishment as an all-Black independent militia company

In 1950 Diggs dropped out of Douglas High School for two years of service in Korea as a member of the all Black Maryland National Guard (726th Transportation Truck Company of the 231st Transportation Truck Battalion). After tours in Korea, Germany, and Japan, he retired from the military in 1970.[1]

Education

Diggs earned his high school diploma in 1975 and an AA degree from Catonsville Community College (1976). Subsequently, the University of Baltimore awarded him a BA degree cum laude (1979) and Masters of Public Administration (1982).[1]

Later career

Diggs followed up his military career with nineteen years in the DC public school system from which he retired in 1989. However, it was his subsequent work as a substitute teacher at Catonsville High School that inspired his third career as an historian and chronicler of Baltimore County's African-American communities when he discovered that his students had little knowledge of the historic background of their own community. He then researched and wrote his first book: It All Started on Winter's Lane.[2] Nine more books followed.

Honors and Tributes

Publications

References

  1. 1 2 3 http://www.louisdiggs.com/
  2. Apperson, Jay (February 14, 1999). "History from Obscurity". The Baltimore Sun.
  3. Price, Larry (February 25, 1997). "Black Historian to Receive State Honor". The Baltimore Sun.
  4. "DiggsJohnson Museum". Retrieved 21 November 2015.
  5. Wood, Pamela (June 12, 2015). "Rescued From Ruin, Tiny African-American Church Becomes a Museum". Baltimore Sun.
  6. "Kamenetz Announces the Louis S. Diggs Award". Baltimore County News. Baltimore County Government. Retrieved 19 April 2016.


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