WHAT:

Black History Month celebration featuring a dedication of the newly issued Richard Allen Forever commemorative postage stamp – the 39th issuance in the Postal Service’s Black Heritage Stamp Series.  

WHO:

Mattie Little – President Mt. Vernon NY Chapter NAACP  
Reverend Hugh Marriot – Allen Temple AME Church, Mt. Vernon NY
Richard Conte – USPS Westchester District Manager
Maureen Burke – Postmaster, Mt. Vernon NY
Debra Jones – Marketing Mgr., USPS Westchester District
Select Student Choir – Amani Public Charter School, Mt. Vernon NY

WHEN:

11:00 a.m. Friday, February 5, 2012

WHERE:

Mount Vernon Public Library
28 South First Avenue
Mount Vernon, New York 10550

DETAILS:

Mount Vernon community leaders and local postal officials will celebrate Black History Month with an unveiling of an oversized enlargement of the new Richard Allen Forever commemorative postage stamp. 

Preacher, activist, and civic leader Richard Allen (1760–1831) was an inspiring figure whose life and work resonate profoundly in American history. The Richard Allen Forever stamp is the 39th issuance in the Postal Service’s Black Heritage stamp series, which began in 1978 with a stamp honoring abolitionist Harriet Tubman. The issuance of the Richard Allen stamp coincides with the 200th anniversary of Allen’s founding of the African Methodist Episcopal (A.M.E.) Church, considered one of the most important institutions in African American life, and Allen’s election and consecration as A.M.E.’s first bishop.

Other African Americans honored in the Black Heritage stamp series include Martin Luther King, Jr., Benjamin Banneker, Dr. Carter G. Woodson, Mary McLeod Bethune, Langston Hughes, Thurgood Marshall, Paul Robeson, Marian Anderson, Hattie McDaniel, Ella Fitzgerald, John H. Johnson, Barbara Jordan and Shirley Chisholm.

The stamp art is a portrait of Allen, a detail from an 1876 print titled “Bishops of the A.M.E. Church.” Featuring Allen in the center surrounded by ten other bishops and six historical vignettes, the print is from the collection of the Library Company of Philadelphia. The First-Day-of-Issue ceremony took place at the Mother Bethel A.M.E. Church in Philadelphia on Feb. 2.

The new Richard Allen Forever stamp is available at Post Offices nationwide, at usps.com/shop, or by calling 800-STAMP24 (800-782-6724). A variety of related collectibles is also available at usps.com/shop.

To view an image of the Richard Allen Forever stamp and for additional background information, log onto: http://about.usps.com/news/national-releases/2016/pr16_003.htm.