Imperium in Imperio

Sutton E. Griggs (1872-1933) was an African American novelist, activist, and Baptist minister. Born in Chatfield, Texas, Griggs was the second of eight children. His father, Rev. Allen R. Griggs, was a former slave who became an influential minister and founded the first newspaper and high school for African Americans in Texas. Upon graduating from Bishop College and Richmond Theological Seminary, Griggs followed in his father's footsteps to become a pastor in Berkley, Virginia, where he married Emma Williams in 1897. In 1899, while serving as pastor of Tabernacle Baptist Church in East Nashville, Griggs published his novel Imperium in Imperio, a powerful story of a separate African American state. Recognized as a pioneering work of utopian literature and science fiction, the novel launched Griggs' literary career and allowed him to open the Orion Publishing Company in 1901. Devoted to alleviating social issues within the Black community, Griggs supported the Niagara Movement and the NAACP, educated himself through the words of W. E. B. Du Bois, and advocated for both separatism and integration in his literary works. Towards the end of his life, having published several novels and dozens of political and religious pamphlets, Griggs devoted himself to his work in the Baptist Church, serving for 19 years as a pastor in Memphis and for one year as president of the American Baptist Theological Seminary.