Belton Piedmont is a born to a poor but hardworking family in Virginia and grows up intimately familiar with racism and segregation. He attends school with another black child, Bernard Belgrave, whom he builds a rivalry and friendship with. Belton and Bernard's educations take radically different turns when Bernard goes to Harvard while Belton is too poor to attend a prestigious university. Belton's graduation speech is published in a Richmond newspaper and it catches the attention of a southern democrat who vehemently opposes lynching, Mr. V.M. King. King takes a liking to Belton and gives him a check that will take him through college, but not before giving Belton some sage advice. With King's aid, Belton attends a college in Nashville, Tennessee. Belton is perturbed when he discovers that even in the seemingly egalitarian school, there are black professors that are silently ostracized and barred from eating meals with their white counterparts. Belton organizes a movement of civil disobedience and daunts the school's president into changing things. After Belton graduates, he is harassed by a mob after encouraging black men to vote. The mob goes to lynch him, even shooting him in the head, but the bullet is caught in Belton's skin and only leaves him unconscious. He's claimed by a doctor who wishes to dissect his body, but Belton awakens on the table and kills the doctor in self-defense. Belton flees and is eventually arrested for murder. The trial goes poorly when many of the jurors are from the mob that lynched him. But Belton's case reaches the attention of Bernard who uses his political connections to appeal Belton's verdict. Belton later contacts Bernard asking him to come to Waco, Texas without any more explanation. Bernard agrees to come to his friend. Belton reveals the existence of the Imperium in Imperio, a shadow state consisting of black men aiming to counteract segregation and to protect blacks in the south from persecution an violence. Belton and others in the Imperium believe that Bernard could be their George Washington. Bernard is eventually elected president of the Imperium and the concoct a plan to infiltrate the United States Navy and use it to protect a new nation they plan to form in the heart of Texas. Belton opposes this plan, still holding onto his belief in the United States and that it would be wrong to betray nation. He remains committed to the goal of improving the states rather than seceding and tenders his resignation from the Imperio, knowing full well that he'll be executed by his peers for attempting to leave. The members of the Imperium attempt to allow Belton to escape his sentence, but Belton refuses. Bernard and the Imperium execute Belton for his treason. The novel opens with a confession from Berl Trout, a member of the Imperium who declares himself a traitor to his race, and an explication of the events surrounding Belton and the Imperium. After Belton's death, Trout writes that he was moved by Belton's convictions and betrays the Imperium, revealing its existence to the world and leaving it to the audience to judge the novel's events.
Characters
Belton Piedmont – An educated black man and member of the Imperium. Belton is acutely aware of racial discrimination for the whole of his life, but ultimately chooses to pursue integration and advocates peace. He is modeled on Booker T. Washington.
Bernard Belgrave – A schoolmate of Belton's and member of the Imperium. Contrasting with Belton, Bernard is much more militant and strongly advocates a military takeover of Texas.
Publishing
Imperium in Imperio was originally published by the Editor Publishing Company and sold door-to-door, and didn't see much popularity in its printing life.
Reception
The book was one of few novels written around 1900 that had all black major characters, and was "virtually unknown to white Americans". William Loren Katz, writing in the Journal of Black Studies, concluded that, although the book had "implausible and transparent characters and plot," and Griggs had "meager talents as a writer and lack of political sophistication and depth," he still "managed to capture a neglected but crucial moment and mood in the history of black America." The book was, according to Jack M. Beckham II "a relatively obscure work that has been almost completely ignored by critics." However, following a republication by the University Of West Virginia Press in 2003, the book has been the subject of numerous studies, for instance on its portrayal of: "oratory, embodiment, and US citizenship", collective efficiency, the middle way in the National Baptist Convention, utopia, and black baptist radicalism. Oxford Reference names the novel as "one of the most important novels of literary black nationalism."
