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His Brother's Blood: Speeches and Writings, 1838-64. By Owen Lovejoy. Edited by William F. Moore and Jane Ann Moore. Foreword by Paul Simon. (Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois Press, c. 2004. Pp. xxxviii, 432. $50.00, ISBN 0-252-02919-4.)
Remembered most often as the brother of Elijah Lovejoy, the antislavery martyr, or as a friend of Abraham Lincoln, Owen Lovejoy, an abolitionist minister and congressman, is usually overshadowed by more prominent figures. The editors argue that the tendency to overlook Owen Lovejoy distorts history, for Lovejoy himself "made a significant contribution to the end of slavery in America" (p. xix).
Lovejoy emerged on the national scene in 1838, soon after his brother Elijah died while defending his antislavery newspaper from a proslavery mob in Alton, Illinois. Capitalizing on public interest in his brother's death, Lovejoy presented a radical message that asked his audiences to vindicate his brother's blood by supporting the antislavery cause. Although Lovejoy never completely left behind his identity as the...