Elijah Parish Lovejoy was born in 1802. He was a Presbyterian minister, a journalist, and an abolitionist. In 1832, he set up a church in St. Louis, then a slave state, and worked as the editor of the St. Louis Observer. He wrote editorials on the evils of slavery, challenging fellow Americans to condemn and remove this evil from their midst. He was attacked, threatened – even his family was terrorized. Three times, anti-abolitionists discovered and destroyed his printing press. Friends and enemies alike warned him against carrying on. They told him not to speak out.
In 1837, he moved with his family to the town of Alton in Illinois, a free state. He started a newspaper called the Alton Observer so that he could keep on writing, keep on reporting, keep working to change hearts and minds. On the 61st anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, Lovejoy wrote a fiery editorial in the face of the celebration all around him. He wrote: “What bitter mockery is this. We assemble to thank God for our own freedom, and to eat and drink with joy and gladness of heart, while our feet are on the necks of nearly three million of our fellow men. Not all our shouts of self-congratulation can drown their groans. Even that very flag of freedom that waves over their heads is formed from materials cultivated by slaves, on a soil moistened with their blood.” His writing got more and more impassioned and he refused to be silenced in his Christian mission to the oppressed, the vulnerable. He broke no law and yet the threats of violence increased. He protested his innocence and his right to free speech and freedom of the press. On November 2, 1837, he made this appeal to the city of Alton:
“I do, therefore, as an American citizen, and Christian patriot, and in the name of Liberty, and Law, and Religion, solemnly protest against all these attempts… to frown down the liberty of the press, and forbid the free expression of opinion. Under a deep sense of my obligations to my country, the church, and my God, I declare it to be my fixed purpose to submit to no such dictation. And I am prepared to abide the consequences. I have appealed to the constitution and laws of my country; if they fail to protect me, I appeal to God, and with Him I cheerfully rest my cause.
“Fellow-citizens, they told me that if I returned to the city, from my late absence, you would surely lay violent hands upon me, and many of my friends besought me not to come. I disregarded their advice, because I plainly saw, or thought I saw, that the Lord would have me come. And up to this moment that conviction of duty has continued to strengthen, until now I have not a shadow of doubt that I did right. I have appeared openly among you, in your streets and market-places, and now I openly and publicly throw myself into your hands. I can die at my post, but I cannot desert it.”
On November 7, 1837, a mere five days after this speech, the warehouse where he kept his printing press was attacked by a pro-slavery mob. Lovejoy had some supporters with him, trying to defend the press, but they were overcome. Lovejoy was shot five times and died on the spot. Several others died and some were wounded. The mob carried the press to the window, threw it out to the riverbank, and cast the broken pieces into the Mississippi River. The case went to trial, but no one was convicted. After all, the jury foreman had been a member of the mob that was wounded in the attack and the presiding judge had spoken as a witness to the events. Is it any wonder that no one was guilty? Lovejoy was buried in an unmarked grave. Even his own newspaper did not report his death because those who opposed slavery feared the rise in violence. At the age of 34, Elijah Parish Lovejoy took up his cross and followed Christ, even to his death. He wrote for truth, he wrote for justice, he wrote that all might be free. “I can die at my post, but I cannot desert it.”1
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elijah_Parish_Lovejoy &
https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED285232.pdf &
https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn84026753/1871-08-03/ed-1/?sp=1&st=text &
https://www.siue.edu/lovejoy-library/tas/Abbott_716.pdf &
https://presidentlincoln.illinois.gov/Blog/Posts/41/Illinois-History/2020/11/The-Murder-of-an-Abolitionist/blog-post/