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What: |
The U.S. Postal Service proudly recognizes Rosa Parks, an extraordinary American activist who became an iconic figure in the Civil Rights movement. Two stamp dedication events will be held in Detroit and Dearborn, MI, to honor Parks, who received many honors, including the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Clinton in 1996. In 1987, she co-founded the Rosa and Raymond Parks Institute for Self Development in Detroit to inspire young people. Detroit will become the first city in the nation to sell the Rosa Parks Forever Stamp at a special ceremony at the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History. The First-Day-of-Issue stamp event will be held during Rosa Parks’ 100th birthday celebration, which will be observed during the day-long National Day of Courage conference hosted by the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, MI. |
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When: |
7:30 a.m. ET, Monday, Feb. 4, 2013 in Detroit; 10:45 a.m. ET, Monday, Feb. 4, 2013 in Dearborn, MI. |
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Where: |
Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History The Henry Ford |
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Background: |
On Dec. 1, 1955, Rosa Parks was arrested in Montgomery, AL, for refusing to give up her seat on a municipal bus to a white man. Her arrest not only sparked a boycott of the Montgomery bus system that lasted longer than a year, it served to ignite a movement that was ultimately successful in inspiring others to similar courageous acts to challenge racial segregation. Many honors were awarded to Parks in her lifetime, including the Spingarn Medal, the highest award of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in 1979 and dozens of honorary degrees. She was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal in 1999. The stamp honoring Rosa Parks is being issued as a Forever Stamp, which are always equal in value to the current First-Class Mail one-ounce price. Art director Derry Noyes and stamp artist Thomas Blackshear II, who created his portrait in gouache on illustration board, emphasize Parks’ quiet determination and her pleasant persona in the stamp art. Find more information about the new stamp at www.usps.com/stamps, www.facebook.com/uspsstamps or http://beyondtheperf.com/. |
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A self-supporting government enterprise, the U.S. Postal Service is the only delivery service that reaches every address in the nation — 151 million residences, businesses and Post Office™ Boxes. The Postal Service™ receives no tax dollars for operating expenses, and relies on the sale of postage, products and services to fund its operations. With 32,000 retail locations and the most frequently visited website in the federal government, usps.com®, the Postal Service has annual revenue of more than $65 billion and delivers nearly 40 percent of the world’s mail. If it were a private sector company, the U.S. Postal Service would rank 35th in the 2011 Fortune 500. In 2011, Oxford Strategic Consulting ranked the U.S. Postal Service number one in overall service performance of the posts in the top 20 wealthiest nations in the world. Black Enterprise and Hispanic Business magazines ranked the Postal Service as a leader in workforce diversity. The Postal Service has been named the Most Trusted Government Agency for six years and the sixth Most Trusted Business in the nation by the Ponemon Institute.
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