Changemakers: Elijah Parish Lovejoy
Happy World Press Freedom Day! In 1993, the UN General Assembly proclaimed May 3 World Press Freedom Day as an opportunity to:
- celebrate the fundamental principles of press freedom;
- assess the state of press freedom throughout the world;
- defend the media from attacks on their independence;
- and pay tribute to journalists who have lost their lives in the line of duty.(From http://www.un.org/en/events/pressfreedomday/)
In honor of press freedom, we’re highlighting changemaker Elijah Parish Lovejoy. Lovejoy, a Presbyterian minister, abolitionist, and newspaper publisher, knew the power of a free press, and died in 1837 defending his right to press freedom.
As the editor for The Observer in St. Louis in the years leading up to the Civil War, Lovejoy wrote editorials criticizing slavery. He defended his views and his right to publish them, even though they angered many. As violence increased and more people threatened him, Lovejoy, a husband and father, feared for his family’s safety. In 1837, after his printing press was destroyed and his home burglarized, he moved across the Mississippi to Alton, Illinois and began publishing there. However, even in a free state, his views met with anger and two more printing presses were destroyed by opponents to try and silence him.
In November of 1837 Lovejoy bought a new press, and organized a group to protect it. On November 7, a mob attacked the building where the press was housed. During an exchange of gunfire with the mob, Lovejoy was shot and killed. He was buried on November 9, his 35th birthday. President John Quincy Adams called Lovejoy the “first American martyr to the freedom of the press and the freedom of the slave.”
In honor of World Press Freedom Day, find out more about Elijah Parish Lovejoy and his lasting legacy to freedom.
You can protect press freedoms today by supporting these organizations!
https://publicgood.com/campaign/forward-together-freedom-of-the-press
