The Reverend Elijah P. Lovejoy, Editor of the ‘Alton Observer,’ Dies at the Hands of a Pro-Slavery Mob, Alton, Illinois (1837)

The Reverend Elijah P. Lovejoy, Editor of the ‘Alton Observer,’ Dies at the Hands of a Pro-Slavery Mob, Alton, Illinois (1837)

The Reverend Elijah P. Lovejoy, Editor of the ‘Alton Observer,’ Dies at the Hands of a Pro-Slavery Mob, Alton, Illinois (1837)

Copy Link
Facebook
X (Twitter)
Bluesky
Pocket
Email

Christ’s editor becomes Christ’s martyr:
band the newspaper columns black
for Elijah P. Lovejoy, who fired back.
They threw his first three presses into the river.
They came with guns, stones, hatchets, hammers;
they came with whiskey and a mind to attack
something as they felt attacked, to break
Lovejoy’s words before they got to paper.
No one was arrested; it wasn’t a riot.
At the wharf, the smashed-up pieces of his fourth
press. Although he signed his letters till death
or victory, the movement hadn’t thought
it could happen to a journalist.
Somebody had to be the first.

Support The Nation’s June Fundraising Campaign

With the midterm elections now firmly upon us, the question is whether Democratic candidates will do more than merely occupy ballot lines as mild alternatives to the red-hot crisis that is Donald Trump.

As Trump spends over $1 billion a day on a globally destabilizing war on Iran and admits that he doesn’t “think about Americans’ financial situation,” millions across the country are struggling with the surging costs of essentials. Democrats must seize this moment and advance bold, small-“d” populist ideas—not settle for cynical caution that once again snatches defeat from the jaws of victory.

The Nation elevates progressive ideas, movements, and elected officials achieving real change across the country into the national conversation. At the same time, our journalists are exposing how crypto and AI-funded super PACs are spending hundreds of millions of dollars to knock out candidates they oppose, reporting on the devastating impact of the Supreme Court’s evisceration of the Voting Rights Act, and sounding the alarm on attempts by red states to quickly redraw electoral maps, disenfranchising Southern Black voters.

We can play this critical role because of support from readers like you. This June, we’re raising $20,000 to power The Nation’s independent journalism in the run-up to November’s immensely consequential elections.

It’s in our power to build a more just society, and your support at this critical moment brings us closer to that bold vision. I hope you’ll donate today.

Onward,

Katrina vanden Huevel
Editor and Publisher, The Nation

Ad Policy
x