Get ready for more Black excellence, folks!
Women’s rights icon Dorothy Height will be featured on the 40th stamp in the US Postal Service’s Black Heritage series in 2017.
A peer of Shirley Chisholm, Height fought against the racial and gender inequalities suffocating minorities and women in the 1940s, 50s and 60s.
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“2017 will be an exciting year for the Postal Service’s stamp program,” said Mary-Anne Penner, US Postal Service Director, Stamp Services. “This amazing collection of stamps features beautiful art, distinguished Americans and historic events.”
According to the organization, Height rarely received the recognition she deserved for her years of tireless service as an activist. She served as the president of the National Council of Negro Women for 40 years.
Height also won the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1994, followed by the Congressional Gold Medal in 2004. She was a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., serving as its national president from 1947 to 1956.
Height’s stamp features artwork by Thomas Blackshear II. It’s a board portrait of Height with gouache and acrylics, according to the postal service. She’s wearing a beautiful pearl necklace and earrings and a purple and gold church hat.
Height passed away in 2010 at age 98. President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama, along with other dignitaries, attended her funeral.
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Height joins a long list of African-American leaders featured on the Forever stamp, including Harriet Tubman, Alvin Ailey, James Baldwin, Sojourner Truth and Malcolm X.
