USPS "Black Heritage Commemorative Stamp Series"

USPS began in 1974 what is now its longest running series; United States "Black Heritage Commemorative Stamp Series". The series had its roots in a 1975 planning meeting of the Queens County, New York, Bicentennial Committee Present at the meeting was the founder of the Black American Heritage Foundation (BAHF), Clarence L. Irving. Mr. Irving petitioned the U.S. Postal Service to include black Americans in a stamp programme associated with the upcoming Bicentennial of the United States. The proposal received very favorable response. Since then and until now (2024) "Black Heritage" stamps of notable black Americans remains in circulation. Jerry Pinkney designed the initial stamps.  

Shown here is a block of four First Day Cover stamps honouring prominent African Americans: 

- Harriet Tubman (13c stamp issued in 1978)

- Mary McLeod Bethune (22c stamp issued in 1985)

- Whitney Moore Young Jr. (15c stamp issued in 1981) 

- Martin Luther King Jr. (15c stamp issued in 1979). 

Harriet Tubman was the first African American woman honored on a U.S. postage stamp. Born into slavery, she escaped and became a "conductor" on the Underground Railroad, helping over 300 slaves to freedom. She also served as a spy and nurse for the Union Army during the Civil War. 

Mary McLeod Bethune (1875-1955) was an influential educator, civil rights activist, and advocate for women's rights. She founded the Daytona Educational and Industrial Training School for Negro Girls in 1904, which later became Bethune-Cookman University. Bethune also served as an advisor to President Franklin D. Roosevelt on minority affairs, and was the first Black woman to lead a federal agency. 

Whitney Moore Young, Jr. was a moderate civil rights leader who urged African Americans to work within the system. He served as executive director of the National Urban League for 10 years. In 1969, he received the nation’s highest civilian honor, the Medal of Freedom.

This stamp honors the memory of Martin Luther King, Jr., Nobel Prize winner and champion of non-violence.  A Baptist minister, King sought equality for all Americans and fought for peaceful solutions to racial issues. He was assassinated in 1968.