Memorial Pitcher
Made in Staffordshire, England
after 1837
Earthenware
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Harold Koplar
MHS Collections
1960 044 0000
Presbyterian minister Elijah Lovejoy of Alton, Illinois, was a figurehead of the abolitionist movement. As the editor of a newspaper that called for emancipation of the enslaved, Lovejoy was often criticized and threatened by proslavery citizens—even in the free state of Illinois. In 1837, he was killed and his press was thrown into the Mississippi River. Upon his death, the abolitionist movement declared Lovejoy a martyr to the cause of liberty and his printing press an icon of free speech.
This pitcher, which draws upon a heroic image of Lovejoy, offers a quote from the Constitution: “Congress shall make no laws . . . abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press. . . .” On the reverse side a slave kneels next to a figure of Liberty and a printing press, with the words “Lovejoy: the first martyr to American liberty.” Interestingly, this domestic artifact was not made in America, but in Staffordshire, England. The British, who had achieved abolition in 1833, adopted the American Lovejoy as universal emblem of freedom. In turn, they used his image on products exported to an American market.
Organized by the Virginia Historical
Society with additional support from the E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter
Foundation and the
Lettie Pate Whitehead Evans Changing Exhibitions Fund, American. Support
in St. Louis is provided by The Stanley and Lucy Lopata Foundation
This exhibition has been made possible in part
by the National Endowment for the Humanities: Great Ideas Brought to Life.
