Back

"Racial Greatness" Reconsidered: Race Theory, Masking, and Pragmatism in Sutton Griggs's Imperium in Imperio.

  • Published In: College Literature, 2024, v. 51, n. 1. P. 54 1 of 3

  • Database: Academic Search Ultimate 2 of 3

  • Authored By: Hooper, M. Clay 3 of 3

Abstract

This essay situates Sutton Griggs's Imperium in Imperio (1899) as a pragmatic intervention in Jim Crow-era discourses around Black Nationalism. Highlighting Griggs's instrumentalist relationship to race theory in both Imperium and Guide to Racial Greatness (1923), this essay argues that his works are fertile sites for examining a distinctly African American tradition of philosophical pragmatism that sought to conceptualize racial solidarity in nonessentialist ways. It further suggests that Griggs's pragmatism, responding to the unique pressures of the Jim Crow period, emphasized the need for emancipatory efforts to be masked and embedded within the very structures they sought to dismantle. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Additional Information

  • Source:College Literature. 2024/01, Vol. 51, Issue 1, p54
  • Document Type:Article
  • Subject Area:History
  • Publication Date:2024
  • ISSN:0093-3139
  • DOI:10.1353/lit.2024.a917864
  • Accession Number:175161732
  • Copyright Statement:Copyright of College Literature is the property of Johns Hopkins University Press and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Looking to go deeper into this topic? Look for more articles on EBSCOhost.