Imperium in Imperio: The Racial Rainbow and Its Spectrum of Privileges

In Imperium in Imperio, we watch as Belton Peidmont and Bernard Belgrave struggle with the reality of harsh discrimination against their heritage. It's seen throughout the book that their differing skin tones serve as a base for a spectrum of privilege. Belton is a first-hand victim of racial abuse, but Bernard, being of a much lighter skin tone, feels the sharp jab of this discrimination not from a white adversary but through the harsh treatment of his professed love.

But that's getting ahead of myself.

Imperium in Imperio specifically focuses on the African American struggle after the Civil War. The level of education among most African Americans is made abundantly clear in the very first chapter of the book when Belton's mother states, "Cum er long hunny an' let yer mammy fix yer 'spectabul, so yer ken go to skule." (page 9)

However, also made abundantly clear is the much higher quality of education for people who are not strictly black--that is, of mixed, or mulatto, blood. While Belton's mother struggles to enroll him into the school, Bernard's mother Fairfax easily charms the teacher with her beauty and displays perfectly articulated speech.  ("At the mention of the word madam, she colored slightly. 'I desire to have my son enter your school and I trust that you may see your way clear to admit him.'" page 13) Fairfax Belgrave, being mulatto, has lighter skin than Belton's mother and utilizes the privilege it gives her.

Bernard enjoys the same attention that his mother is given, being doting upon by the teacher and given special treatment. ("Often he would purchase flowers from the florist and give to Bernard to bear home to his mother. On these days he would seemingly take pains to give Belton fresh bruises to take home to his mother. When he had a particularly good dinner he would invite Bernard to dine with him, and would be sure to find some pretext for forbidding Belton to partake of his own common meal." page 20) Later, solely because his skin tone is lighter than Belton's, the judges of their oration contest decide that he should win the prize. (page 23)

When it comes time to move on to university, Belton must rely on a kindly white man's donation while Bernard is well-off enough to go to Harvard.

And so life goes on. When Belton falls in love, it is with a brown-skinned woman who wanted for nothing growing up, "accustomed from her childhood to plenty." (page 66) She never knows hardship until her dark-skinned husband cannot hold a job due to prejudices.

But this is where things take a turn for Bernard. Successful in all he's attempted, accustomed to privilege and promise, at this point directed to a political life by his father, he finds that the only thing he can't have is the one thing that might make him truly happy. A true love of his own.  

That same skin color that graced his life with opportunity now divides him from Viola, who kills herself rather than give in to her feelings for Bernard.  She kills herself rather than "sap the vitality of the Negro race." (page 84) It's this reality that spurs him forth to work against the Anglo-Saxon.

The spectrum continues to allow Bernard to rise the political ranks. From his high perched, he is spotted by the Imperium. His life takes a turn again: Those same men who would have spurned him for his special treatment now want him to be their president. The spectrum has delivered him to the head of the African American forces.

Questions:

1. What are the implications set forth by the idea of a spectrum of privileges distributed on the basis of skin tone?
2. While Viola is most concerned with the idea of diluting the Negro blood line, she doesn't hesitate to kill herself and thereby remove her genes from the gene pool entirely. What might this suggest about her own self-importance and how she views herself in an African American future?