FAYETTEVILLE, NC — The Postal Service will tip its hat to the ladies of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority’s Fort Bragg Area Alumnae Chapter when it dedicates the 2012 John H. Johnson Black Heritage Forever Stamp at the 3rd Annual Big Hat Brunch at 11 a.m. on Saturday, March 17.

The keynote speaker for the event is Amy Dubois Barnett, editor-in-chief of Ebony Magazine.  Together with Fayetteville Postmaster Dean Fields, Barnett will help recognize John H. Johnson as the 35th honoree in the Postal Service’s Black Heritage Series.

Johnson was the trailblazing publisher of Negro Digest, Ebony, Jet, and other magazines that showcased African American accomplishments at a time when such affirmation was rare in mainstream media. In 1946, the year after it was founded, Ebony landed its first national advertising account. Selling advertising space to white-owned corporations and persuading them to use black models in their ads were major breakthroughs.

The stamp dedication is part of the local sorority’s annual celebration of “Women’s Empowerment Through Education,” where ladies dress to impress and don their “big, beautiful hats” for Women’s History Month and raise money for scholarships.

Fields, who won’t be wearing a hat, says, “I’m honored the Postal Service is able to play a small part in this day. We’re recognizing a man who dedicated his life to educating and entertaining through the media — and he relied on the Postal Service to help.”

The event takes place at the Crown Coliseum Ballroom, located at 1960 Coliseum Drive. For more information, call 641-715-3900 ext. 809896 or email FBAACevents@gmail.com.

The Postal Service receives no tax dollars for operating expenses and relies on the sale of postage, products and services to fund its operations.

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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 nearly 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, the U.S. Postal Service was ranked number one in overall service performance, out of the top 20 wealthiest nations in the world, Oxford Strategic Consulting. 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.