My Life With and About African-Americans 1944-2024

I was born in 1939 in Alton, Illinois. Alton was the home of Elijah Lovejoy, the famous abolitionist who was killed there by a proslavery mob while he was defending his printing press. It was his fourth press, the other three having been dumped into the Mississippi River to prevent him from publishing his antislavery newspaper, The Defender.

After three days, my mother and I returned to our apartment in Gary, Indiana. Gary was a steel my we of Elijah Lovejoy who was anufacturing town and was...