USPS Reveals Kwanzaa Stamp to Rejoice African American Heritage

September 27, 2024

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The US Postal Service (USPS) has unveiled a brand new stamp design honouring Kwanzaa, a Pan-African American vacation noticed yearly from Dec. 26 to Jan. 1.

The ceremony, organised in partnership with the Affiliation for the Research of African American Life and Historical past (ASALH), occurred on the Heinz Historical past Heart in Pittsburgh.

Roderick Sallay, USPS Director of Legislative Coverage and Technique Improvement, mentioned, “The Postal Service’s aim is to create stamps that resonate with folks from all walks of life.”

He added, “The issuance of this Kwanzaa stamp is a robust image of the enduring rules of the vacation. It recognises Kwanzaa’s potential to encourage and unite folks by way of its emphasis on neighborhood, self-determination and collective duty. By putting these values on a stamp, we affirm their common relevance and their potential to complement our each day lives.”

Becoming a member of Sallay for the ceremony have been grasp of ceremonies Jourdan Hicks, a neighborhood correspondent and neighborhood educator; William M. Dulaney, ASALH President; Ekua Holmes, the stamp artist; Sala Udin, a neighborhood organiser; Anyah Nancy, vocalist; and the Balafon West African Dance Ensemble.

New USPS Commemorative Stamp Pays Tribute to The Seven Rules of Kwanzaa

“The Affiliation for the Research of African American Life and Historical past commends the US Postal Service for its recognition of the acute cultural significance of Kwanzaa and its seven foundational rules,” mentioned Dulaney. “By its issuance of a vacation stamp that honours Pan-African household and tradition, the USPS affirms its perception that range is America’s power, and thereby invitations all Individuals to have a good time with us in late December.”

Annually, thousands and thousands of African Individuals collect with family and friends all through the week of Kwanzaa to honour the Pan-African vacation’s seven founding rules — unity (umoja), self-determination (kujichagulia), collective work and duty (ujima), cooperative economics (ujamaa), objective (nia), creativity (kuumba) and religion (imani).

Kwanzaa is a festive time for rejoicing within the prospect of well being, prosperity and good luck within the coming 12 months. Furthermore, it’s a time for considering and recollecting previous hardships people and communities confronted and the way historical past can inform and have an effect on future happiness.

With origins in historical and trendy first-harvest festivities occurring throughout the African continent, Kwanzaa incorporates and reimagines many communal traditions as a recent celebration and reaffirmation of African American tradition.

The Postal Service’s tenth Kwanzaa stamp since 1997 was impressed by a reside efficiency by dancers from OrigiNation Cultural Arts Heart, witnessed by artist Ekua Holmes, throughout a Kwanzaa occasion in Roxbury, MA.

Uncover the Fantastic thing about Kwanzaa on New USPS Stamp

The stamp depicts three younger performers — a male drummer and behind and to both facet of him, two feminine dancers. He wears a darkish blue, inexperienced, and orange kufi; a white shirt, and pants with a geometrical black and white mud cloth-like sample. His djembe — blue with a white drumhead — hangs from his neck by a crimson strap. The 2 dancers put on orange attire and gold jewelry.

One has a crimson hair band, and all three figures have silhouetted black pores and skin and hair. The ground beneath their toes is diamond-patterned in shades of inexperienced, whereas the background options triangles in shades of crimson. Every dancer extends a knee and a little bit of orange skirt past the picture body into the white margin of the stamp.

The composition highlights the colors of the Pan-African flag — black, crimson, and inexperienced and West African designs on the ground, background and the drummer’s pants.

Ethel Kessler, an artwork director for USPS, designed the stamp with authentic paintings by Holmes.

The Kwanzaa stamp is being issued as a Without end stamp in panes of 20. These Without end stamps will all the time be of equal worth to the present First-Class Mail 1-ounce worth. Information of the Kwanzaa stamps is being shared with the hashtag #KwanzaaStamps.

Postal Merchandise

Clients could buy stamps and different philatelic merchandise by way of the Postal Retailer at usps.com/shopstamps, by calling 844-737-7826, by mail by way of USA Philatelic or at Put up Workplace areas nationwide. Store the USPS Formally Licensed Assortment on Amazon for formally licensed stamp merchandise. Extra info on stamps, First Day of Problem Ceremonies and stamp impressed merchandise will be discovered at StampsForever.com. For extra details about the Postal Service, go to usps.com and details.usps.com.