Daveed Diggs, a performer and actor known for his starring role in the hit musical “Hamilton,” discussed his lengthy career, art, activism and identity at an event on Tuesday evening held by American University’s Spirit and Traditions Board as a part of the Spirit of Change Week.
More than 50 students attended the event, moderated by AU professor Omékongo Dabinga, who teaches intercultural communication in the School of International Studies and specializes in the power and influence of hip-hop as an art form. Dabinga kicked the event off by asking Diggs about his childhood in Oakland, California, and his most recent work.
“I don’t remember ever thinking that art and activism were separate things,” Diggs said.
Instead, Diggs remembers growing up in a community where intersectionality was normalized, particularly as an African American and Jewish individual. Diggs said activism is intertwined with the history of his hometown, the birthplace of the Black Panthers.
While studying at Brown University for a bachelor’s degree in fine arts, Diggs said he realized that finding communities like the one he grew up in was not commonplace, particularly in academia.
“Once I realized intersectionality was a thing to be studied, I looked homeward,” Diggs said.
Diggs eventually returned to Oakland to create and shoot the film “Blindspotting” in 2018. The film centers around Collin, played by Diggs, reconciling with Miles, played by Diggs’ longtime childhood friend Rafael Casal, while on probation.
Before “Blindspotting,” Diggs starred as Thomas Jefferson and Marquis de Lafayette in “Hamilton,” which earned him a Tony Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Musical. He first met Lin Manuel Miranda, the creator of “Hamilton,” through the hip-hop group Freestyle Love Supreme and he voiced Sebastian in 2023’s “The Little Mermaid,” which Miranda wrote the score for.
Diggs said he never felt that he had an obligation to make his art about the political state of the country, which was highly discussed throughout “Hamilton,” with primarily actors of color playing the Founding Fathers.
“If you’re actually making art, it’s probably political,” Diggs said. “Your only obligation as an artist is to make art intentionally.”
Diggs said it is this personal intention that guides him toward selecting different projects. He has worked with directors such as Baz Luhrmann and on projects including “Snowpiercer” and “Black-ish.”
Despite his storied career, Diggs said he did not intend to be a performer at first. After graduating from Brown, he taught as a substitute high school teacher in Oakland and continued to rap and write songs on the side. When Diggs began touring with his band on the CLPPNG tour, he started to consider going into performing full time.
“I should’ve utilized that time better,” Diggs said about his years in college, reflecting that the skills, more so than the degree he earned there, has helped serve him throughout his career.
Diggs advised students to take the time in college to truly learn and to be unafraid of making mistakes. Diggs said he has found the most rewarding moments in his career to be the times he spent making his projects rather than experiencing the final product.
“Put less pressure on yourself to be great, let yourself be in the process,” Diggs said.
Diggs also spoke to young artists in the room, many of whom expressed concern for their future careers. Currently, the arts are facing the rise of artificial intelligence integration, loss of community members as a result of political crackdowns from the White House and more. President Donald Trump’s recent appointment as the chair of the Kennedy Center has shuttered multiple performances and put potential creatives at risk.
Instead of shying away from the arts, though, Diggs encouraged students to continue to create as it is “more important than ever to be an artist.”
“Artists are the people who are emotionally interpreting the times that we live in,” Diggs said. “What we need artists for is to put the realities that we’re going through into the bodies of real life people and into the words of people who have the language to say the things that we don’t.”
This article was edited by Payton Anderson, Tyler Davis and Abigail Turner. Copy editing done by Luna Jinks, Olivia Citarella and Hannah Langenfeld.
