Imperium In Imperio: A Study Of The Negro Race

Sutton Elbert Griggs (June 19, 1872 - January 2, 1933) is best known for his novel Imperium in Imperio, a utopian work that imagines that within the United States there is a separate African American state. This work centers on the disclosure of an African American "empire within an empire," a shadow government complete with a Congress based in Waco, Texas. The two main characters are childhood friends separated by wealth, education, skin tone, and political outlook; one is a militant and one an integrationist. The light-skinned and more militant Bernard Belgrave has been hand-picked to serve as president and advocates a takeover of the Texas state government, while the dark-skinned, college-educated Belton Piedmont argues for assimilation and cooperation. Bernard has Belton executed as a traitor, leaving the potentially violent and unstable Bernard in control of the Imperium as the novel ends.

• | Author: Sutton E. Griggs
• | Publisher: Greenbook Publications, LLC
• | Publication Date: Jul 17, 2010
• | Number of Pages: 128 pages
• | Binding: Paperback or Softback
• | ISBN-10: 1617430269
• | ISBN-13: 9781617430268