POLITICO, September 11, 2011--In 1972, Barbara Jordan became the first African-American woman elected to Congress from the South. This week, 15 years after her death, she will become the first African-American congresswoman to appear on a U.S. postage stamp.
Jordan, who gave the keynote address at the 1992 Democratic National Convention and also made a famous address to the convention in 1976, will be the 34th person honored as part of the Postal Service’s annual Black Heritage series.
Last year’s honoree was filmmaker Oscar Micheaux. The series, which began in 1978 with a stamp honoring Harriet Tubman, has also depicted such political figures / social activists as Martin Luther King Jr., A Philip Randolph, W.E.B. DuBois, Roy Wilkins, Malcolm X, Paul Robeson and Thurgood Marshall.
She is also one of a small number of former members of Congress from Texas to be honored with a stamp of her own, following Sam Rayburn and Lyndon B. Johnson.
A native of Houston, Jordan was first elected four years after New York’s Shirley Chisholm, the first black congresswoman. She served three terms.
First-day ceremonies for the stamp will be held Friday morning in Houston at Texas Southern University and then later at the Houston Stamp Show in Humble, Texas.
Posted By: Richard Kigel
Sunday, September 11th 2011 at 3:08PM
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