Showing results by author "Sutton Griggs" in All Categories

Imperium in Imperio is a powerful historical fiction novel by Sutton Griggs, first published in 1899. It tells the compelling story of Belton Piedmont, an educated and determined black man navigating the oppressive landscape of the Jim Crow South. As he becomes entwined in a covert shadow government of black men operating out of a college in Waco, Texas, the novel explores themes of identity, resistance, and the fight for justice in a divided society.

Belton Piedmont and Bernard Belgrave begin their lives as childhood friends, but that friendship is not bound to last. Belton (modeled on Booker T. Washington) is an African American integrationist; Bernard (modeled on W. E. B. Du Bois) is a biracial militant, and their lives, like their politics, quickly diverge. When they do meet again, at a Black nationalist community called “the Imperium,” the stakes could not be higher.