African American History Month | USPS Stamp of Approval

For history lovers and stamp fans alike, the year 2013 should be a very special one. By a fortunate coincidence, there are three major civil rights anniversaries this year, each deserving of a stamp:

the 150th anniversary of President Abraham Lincoln’s issuance on January 1, 1863, of the Emancipation Proclamation;
the 100th anniversary of the birth of Rosa Parks on February 4, 1913;
the 50th anniversary of the famous March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom on August 28, 1963.

The words “Freedom,” “Courage,” and “Equality” appear in large type in the selvage of each respective pane of stamps honoring these civil rights milestones. Throughout 2013, we’re asking you, our readers, to engage in an online discussion of the meaning of these words—freedom, courage, equality—in your own life and in the life of the nation. What does each word mean to you?

Today marks the 100th birthday of an extraordinary American activist: Rosa Parks (1913–2005), who became an inspiring, iconic figure of the civil rights movement with one quiet act of courage. We are extremely proud today to issue .

Rosa Parks’s name and image used under license with the Rosa and Raymond Parks Institute for Self-Development.

The stamp art, by art director Derry Noyes and artist Thomas Blackshear II, is an original portrait of Parks that emphasizes her quiet strength and pleasant persona.

On the evening of Thursday, December 1, 1955, after working all day, Parks was arrested in Montgomery, Alabama, for refusing to give up her seat on a municipal bus to a white man. Discriminatory laws in effect at that time required black passengers to sit in the rear section of the bus and to surrender their seats to white passengers on demand.

From an early age, Rosa Louise McCauley (her name before her marriage to Raymond Parks) was conscious of the injustice she saw around her. She was educated in a segregated system, attending a rural schoolhouse in Alabama in her early years and eventually receiving her high school diploma shortly after her marriage.

Recalling her early life in My Story (1992), an autobiography intended for young readers, Parks wrote: “At times I felt overwhelmed by all the violence and hatred, but there was nothing to do but keep going.”

After her arrest for refusing to give up her seat, blacks boycotted Montgomery’s bus system. The boycott lasted for 381 days and thrust a young local pastor, Martin Luther King, Jr., into the spotlight.

On November 13, 1956, in a related case, the U.S. Supreme Court affirmed that segregating Montgomery buses was unconstitutional. The boycott continued for several weeks more until the written order mandating integrated buses arrived. The next day, December 21, more than a year after the boycott began, black citizens began to ride the Montgomery buses again.

The is being issued as a Forever® stamp in sheets of 20 self-adhesive stamps. (Forever stamps are always equal in value to the current First-Class Mail one-ounce rate.) It is the second of three stamps we will issue in 2013 to commemorate landmark anniversaries in civil rights history. Watch as Deputy Postmaster General Ronald Stroman introduces the stamps and gives an inspiring account of the U.S. Postal Service’s long history of offering African Americans opportunities not found elsewhere.

“It’s a story we’re proud to tell,” he says, “and a journey we’re eager to continue, together.”

The Emancipation Proclamation stamp will be dedicated at a special ceremony to be held during the Annual Black History Month Luncheon sponsored by the Association for the Study of African American Life and History. The luncheon will be held Saturday, February 23, at 12:30 p.m. at the Marriott Wardman Park Hotel in Washington, D.C. Please note, this is a ticketed event.

One of the things I admire most about Romare Bearden’s work is the way he tells a story using a lively interplay of art materials. Consider “Conjunction,” a collage he created in 1971, and one of four artworks featured on a set of stamps issued in 2011. The scene is drawn from Bearden’s memories of growing up in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina. He uses the collage medium to tell us two important things about the culture of his childhood. The subject of the collage is the significance of community and sharing; the “conjunction” of people when they greet one another and come together for conversation. In this collage, Bearden worked with charcoal and crayon—traditional art materials—and fabric remnants.

Romare Bearden Cultural Diary Page (click to order)

He builds form and gives shape to the figures with these vibrantly colored swatches of fabric, alluding directly to the quilting tradition practiced by his family and neighbors. It’s the juxtaposition of varied color and patterns in the cloth that enlivens the composition. There’s enough going on in Bearden’s collages to keep the eye active and interested. In fact, when looking at his art, I’m in awe of the way he pulls together common materials such as fabric, foil, and cardboard—things I’d just as easily toss in a wastebasket—to create vivid tableaux telling stories of human interaction and complex emotion.

Through March 11, 2012, you can see works by Romare Bearden in New York City at the Studio Museum in Harlem. “The Bearden Project” is a tribute exhibition organized to coincide with the artist’s centennial year. For more information, visit the Studio Museum’s web site.

On February 29, 1940, Hattie McDaniel—the Postal Service’s 2006 Black Heritage subject—made history by becoming the first African American to receive an Oscar. In fact, she was the first African American ever to be nominated for an Academy Award. McDaniel was honored for her performance as Mammy in the 1939 film adaptation of Margaret Mitchell’s popular novel, Gone With the Wind, and her acceptance speech is a lesson in eloquence, grace, and humility.

USPS Stamp of Approval

Category Archives: African American History Month

Freedom, Courage, & Equality: Celebrating Civil Rights Milestones in 2013

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Honor the Courage of Rosa Parks With New Forever® Stamp

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Special Dedication of Emancipation Proclamation Stamp Coming in February

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Romare Bearden Told Stories Through Mixed Media Collages

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Hattie McDaniel Wows the Audience of the 13th Annual Academy Awards

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