Sutton Elbert Griggs (June 19, 1872 – January 2, 1933) was an American author, Baptist minister, academic administrator, educator, publisher, and social activist. He is best known for his novel Imperium in Imperio (1899), a utopian work that envisions a separate African-American state within the United States. Griggs was African-American, and known for African American literature, and western fiction and wrote on social justice, racial segregation and integration. He served as president of American Baptist Theological Seminary (now American Baptist College).
Early years
Griggs was born Elbert Sutton Griggs (he later changed the order of his given names) in 1872 in Chatfield, Texas, to the Rev. Allen R. and Emma Hodge Griggs, the second of eight children. His grandfather was born free in Africa before transport to America as an enslaved man. His father, a former Georgia slave, became a prominent Baptist minister and founder of the first black high school in Texas. Sutton worked closely with his father on the National Baptist Convention's Education Committee. He wrote frequently later in life of his deep respect for his parents' characters and accomplishments.
Sutton Griggs attended Bishop College in Marshall, Texas and Richmond Theological Seminary. Upon graduation, he became pastor of the First Baptist Church in Berkley, Virginia. There he married Emma Williams, a teacher, in 1897. In 1899, he became pastor of Tabernacle Baptist Church in East Nashville and corresponding secretary of the National Baptist Convention. From 1894 to 1898, Griggs served as co-founder and publisher of the Virginia Baptist newspaper.
