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Some of Our Heroes Do Appear on Stamps

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Sarah Vaughan -

 “Most of My Heroes Still Don’t Appear on No Stamp” is the title of a 2012 album and song from Rock and Roll hall-of-fame hip-hop artists Public Enemy, as well as part of a memorable line from the group’s 1989 hit “Fight the Power.” The U.S. Postal Service (USPS) might disagree with that statement.

On March 29, at the Sarah Vaughan Concert Hall in Newark, N.J., renowned jazz and pop singer Sarah Vaughan will be celebrated with a stamp from the USPS.

According to the USPS’s preview of its 2016 stamps, the artwork is an oil painting of Vaughan in performance and the text accompanying the stamp explains why she is being honored as a Music Icon.

The USPS offers commemorative stamps in several different categories, including Distinguished Americans, American Sports Personalities, Black Heritage, Music Icons, and many more.

Former Postmaster General John E. Potter in “African Americans on Stamps: A Celebration of African American Heritage” said, “For more than 125 years, the USPS’s stamp program has celebrated the people, events, and cultural milestones that are unique to the history of our great nation. African Americans have always played a vital role in shaping that history.”

Last month, activist and African American Episcopal (AME) church founder Richard Allen was emblazoned on a Black Heritage series stamp.

Since 1940, more than 100 African Americans have appeared on USPS postage stamps. Check out this list of blacks who have been featured—many of whom are considered heroes. For biographical information and more about the African Americans who have been honored on USPS stamps, visit http www.birminghamtimes.com.

 

1940

Booker T. Washington

 

1948

George Washington Carver (1948, 1998)

 

1967

Frederick Douglass (1967, 1995)

 

1969

William Christopher (W.C.) Handy

 

1973

Henry O. Tanner

 

1975

Paul Laurence Dunbar

Salem Poor

 

1978

Harriet Tubman (1978, 1995)

 

1979

The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (1979, 1999)

 

1980

Benjamin Banneker

 

1981

Dr. Charles Drew

Whitney Moore Young Jr.

 

1982

Ralph Bunche

Jackie Robinson (1982, 2000)

 

1983

Scott Joplin

 

 

1984

Roberto Clemente (1984, 2000)

Carter G. Woodson

 

1985

Mary McLeod Bethune

 

1986

Duke Ellington

Matthew Henson

Sojourner Truth

 

1987

Jean Baptiste Point Du Sable

 

1988

James Weldon Johnson

 

1989

  1. Philip Randolph

 

1990

Jesse Owens (1990, 1998)

Ida B. Wells

 

1991

Jan E. Matzeliger

 

1992

William Edward Burghardt (W.E.B.) Du Bois (1992, 1998)

 

1993

Percy Lavon Julian

Joe Louis

Clyde McPhatter

Otis Redding

Dinah Washington

 

1994

Chester Arthur Barnett, known as “Howlin’ Wolf”

Jim Beckwourth

Nat King Cole

Dr. Allison Davis

Billie Holiday

Robert Johnson

McKinley Morganfield, known as “Muddy Waters”

Bill Pickett

Gertrude Malissa Nix Pridgett, known as “Ma Rainey”

Jimmy Rushing

Bessie Smith

Ethel Waters

 

1995

Louis Armstrong

Eubie Blake

Bessie Coleman

John Coltrane

Errol Garner

Coleman Hawkins

James P. Johnson

Ferdinand Joseph La Menthe, known as “Jelly Roll Morton”

Charles Mingus

Thelonious Monk

Charlie Parker

 

1996

Count Basie

John Henry

Ernest E. Just

 

1997

Benjamin O. Davis Sr.

 

1998

Mahalia Jackson

Huddie William Ledbetter, known as “Lead Belly”

Roberta Martin

Sister Rosetta Tharpe

Madame C.J. Walker

Clara Ward

Josh White

 

1999

El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz, known as Malcom X

 

2000

Josh Gibson

Patricia Roberts Harris

Satchel Paige

 

2001

Roy Wilkins

 

2002

Langston Hughes

Ethel L. Payne

 

2003

Zora Neale Hurston

Thurgood Marshall

 

2004

Alvin Ailey

James Baldwin

Paul Robeson

Wilma Rudolph

 

2005

Arthur Ashe

Marian Anderson

 

2006

Hattie McDaniel

Sugar Ray Robinson

 

2007

Ella Fitzgerald

 

2008

Charles W. Chesnutt

 

2009

Anna Julia Cooper

Richard Wright

 

2010

Oscar Micheaux

 

2011

Barbara Jordan

 

2012

Miles Davis

John H. Johnson

 

2013

Ray Charles

Althea Gibson

 

2014

  1. Alfred “Chief” Anderson

Wilt Chamberlain

Shirley Chisolm

Ralph Ellison

Jimi Hendrix

 

2015

Robert Robinson Taylor

Maya Angelou

 

2016

Richard Allen

Sarah Vaughan

 

Source: United States Postal Service.

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