Elijah P. Lovejoy

Rev. Elijah Parish Lovejoy (November 9, 1802 - November 7, 1837) was an American abolitionist and journalist. Born in Albion, Maine, he graduated from Colby College in 1826. He studied at the Princeton Theological Seminary and in 1834 was ordained a minister, like his father before him.

Lovejoy then joined the staff of the St. Louis Observer before moving back across the river to become editor of the abolitionist paper the Alton Observer of Alton, Illinois. His printing press was seized by pro-slavery mobs and thrown into the Mississippi River on three different occasions. He received another printing press from the Ohio Anti-Slavery Society (or possibly the Anti-Slavery Society of Illinois--records conflict), but he was attacked and murdered by a pro-slavery mob, and his printing press was thrown into the river again.

Afterwards, he was considered a martyr for the abolition movement, and in his name, his brother, Owen Lovejoy became the leader of the Illinois abolitionists. Elijah Lovejoy is buried in Alton Cemetery in Madison County, Illinois.

The Lovejoy Library at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville is named in his honor. A proposal when the school was initially formed was to name the whole university after him.

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