American Baptist College Newsroom
Did you know that Sutton Elbert Griggs (1872-1933), for whom Griggs Hall is named, was a social activist, a college president, a novelist, as well as a prominent minister in his day?. He actively participated in protests against police brutality, Jim Crow laws, streetcar segregation, and inadequate educational facilities throughout his lifetime. He is best known for his novel, Imperium in Imperio (1899), a utopian work that envisioned a separate African-American state within the United States. Sutton Griggs was the first president of ABC, elected by the National Baptist Convention to serve from 1925 -1926. You can find out more about Sutton Elbert Griggs by clicking these links:
Sutton E. Griggs in the Tennessee Encyclopedia of History and Culture
Sutton Elbert Griggs at the Texas State Historical Association
“Sutton E. Griggs and the African American Literary Tradition of Pamphleteering” (a University of Maryland dissertation)
