Carlsbadistan stamp designer Carl Herrman sure does stay busy. His most recent work is a new stamp memorializing Native Son author Richard Wright. It will be unveiled tomorrow in the lobby of the Chicago Main post office.
Artwork for the 61-cent First-Class two-ounce stamp created by Kadir Nelson of San Diego, CA, features a portrait of Wright in front of snow-swept tenements on the South Side of Chicago, a scene that recalls the setting of Native Son. Nelson’s portrait of Wright was based on a circa 1945 photograph. Carl T. Herrman of Carlsbad, CA, was the stamp designer. One hundred million stamps were printed in sheets of 20.
Follow the jump for the rest of the details.Richard Wright Immortalized on Postage
Author, former Postal employee, wrote on racism in America
CHICAGO — Author and former postal employee Richard Wright will be immortalized on a First-Class stamp tomorrow in the lobby of the Chicago Main Post Office on West Harrison Street when the stamp goes on sale nationwide Thursday, April 9, as the 25th inductee into the Postal Service’s Literary Arts series. Best remembered for his controversial 1940 novel, Native Son, and his 1945 autobiography, Black Boy, Wright drew on a wide range of literary traditions, including protest writing and detective fiction, to craft unflinching portrayals of racism in American society. Wright worked for the Chicago Post Office from 1927 to 1930 as a letter sorter.
Artwork for the 61-cent First-Class two-ounce stamp created by Kadir Nelson of San Diego, CA, features a portrait of Wright in front of snow-swept tenements on the South Side of Chicago, a scene that recalls the setting of Native Son. Nelson’s portrait of Wright was based on a circa 1945 photograph. Carl T. Herrman of Carlsbad, CA, was the stamp designer. One hundred million stamps were printed in sheets of 20.
“This nation experienced a historical event in our most recent presidential election,” explained U.S. Postal Service Chicago District/Postmaster Gloria Tyson. “It was an event Richard Wright helped to bring about with his often controversial writings; writings of a world view on humanity and politics that were far too forward-thinking for his own generation; writings full of anger, frustration, and indignation stemming from his early life experiences being poor and black in America; writings that appealed to — and appalled — both whites and blacks; writings that eventually helped to direct a change in how America addressed and discussed race relations.”
Scheduled to join Tyson in dedicating the stamp are WVON Radio talk show host Cliff Kelley; independent scholar (Boston) Carlos Brossard; University of Chicago Professor Jacqueline Goldsby; Poet and University Distinguished Professor at Chicago State University Dr. Haki R. Madhubuti and stamp artist Kadir Nelson.
Richard Wright’s daughter, Julia, will not be able to attend, but asked Postal Service representative Evelyn Fleming to deliver her remarks:
“When a young Barack Obama came to Chicago in his 20s to work as a community organizer, he made imaginary chains between his life and the faces he saw, borrowing other people’s memories. ‘In this way’ he wrote in Dreams From My Father, ‘I tried to take possession of the city, make it my own. (…) The mailman I saw was Richard Wright, delivering mail before his first book sold.’”
Continued Fleming, in delivering Julia Wright’s remarks, “In my father’s case, letters and their delivery played an important role in his childhood when he watched his grandfather spend his last years writing letters to the War Department insisting that his war pension be granted at last. This was never to be because the white officer who had discharged him from the Union Army distorted his name from Wilson to Vinson and the slave who broke free to fight the Rebels became invisible. My father wrote in “Black Boy”: ‘I used to get the mail early in the morning and I would read him the letter. Like K of Kafka’s novel, he tried desperately to persuade the authorities of his true identity right up to the day of his death and failed.’
“Richard’s early contact with the dreams we express in our letters is part of the genesis of his own life -long drive to WRITE to prove he was indeed WRIGHT. Becoming a postal worker in Chicago during the Depression was my father’s way of redeeming his grandfather’s failure. And so he did.”
How to Order the First-Day-of-Issue Postmark
Customers have 60 days to obtain the first-day-of-issue postmark by mail. They may purchase new stamps at their local Post Office, at The Postal Store website at usps.com/shop, or by calling 1-800-STAMP-24. They should affix the stamps to envelopes of their choice, address the envelopes, to themselves or others, and place them in a larger envelope addressed to:
Richard Wright Stamp
Retail Operations
U.S. Postal Service
433 W. Harrison Street, 4th Floor
Chicago, IL 60699-9998
After applying the first-day-of-issue postmark, the Postal Service will return the envelopes through the mail. There is no charge for the postmark. All orders must be postmarked by June 10, 2009.
How to Order First-Day Covers
Stamp Fulfillment Services also offers first-day covers for new stamp issues and Postal Service stationery items postmarked with the official first-day-of-issue cancellation. Each item has an individual catalog number and is offered in the quarterly USA Philatelic catalog. Customers may request a free catalog by calling 1-800-STAMP-24 or writing to:
Information Fulfillment
Dept. 6270
U.S. Postal Service
P.O. Box 219014
Kansas City, MO 64121-9014
Philatelic Products
Richard Wright, author of Native Son and Black Boy, drew on a wide range of literary traditions to offer an unflinching look at racism in American society. The U.S. Postal Service remembers the power of expression with this addition to the cultural diary series.
The Diary Page (Item 113076, $17.95) comes with a pane of 20 stamps. There are two other philatelic products available for this stamp issue: item 113061, First Day Cover, 99¢; and item 113091, Ceremony Program, $6.95
RSS Feed-Posts