Happy 105th birthday Dr. Dorothy Irene Height; buy her Forever Stamp today

February 1, 2017 was a special day for this nation. Not only it was it a foray into our 41st installment of Black History Month, or National African American History Month, an annual celebration of achievements by Black Americans and a time for recognizing the central role of African Americans in U.S. history. It was the first day of issue for Dr. Dorothy Irene Height’s United States Postal Service Forever Stamp:

A tireless activist, Dorothy Height (1912–2010) dedicated her life to fighting for racial and gender equality. Although rarely gaining the recognition granted her male contemporaries, she became one of the most influential civil rights leaders of the 20th century. Height received the nation’s two highest civilian honors for her work, the Medal of Freedom and the Congressional Gold Medal.

The Dorothy Height stamp features artist Thomas Blackshear II’s, portrait of Height. The painting is based on a photograph shot by Lateef Mangum in 2009. Art director Derry Noyes designed the stamp.

“This type of gathering is happening all over the country, relative to the presentation, because we unveiled it at Howard University, on February 1, with the deputy postmaster general,” says National Council of Negro Women (NCNW) chair Ingrid Saunders Jones of the Stamp during a presentation at the Center for Civil Human Rights in Atlanta during National Women’s History Month. “We can’t thank the US Postal Service enough for having their 40th stamp of the Black Heritage Stamp Series [feature] Dr. Dorothy Irene Height. She is 15th African American woman.” There are 15 Black women on the stamp, eight of those 15 women are members of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc.

On March 24, 1912, the world was blessed with the birth of Dorothy Irene Height, born to a building contractor and a nurse in Richmond, Virginia. Among the numerous doctoral degrees, recognitions are honors bestowed upon her include the Presidential Medal of Freedom (1994) and the Congressional Gold Medal (2004).

The longtime president of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Inc., 19 years to be exact, and executive director of the National Council of Negro Women Inc., was very influential in informing me to be the feminist I am today. Here’s to honoring Dr. Height on her 105th birthday and keeping the legacy alive.

Customers have 60 days to obtain first-day-of-issue postmarks by mail. They may purchase new stamps at local Post Offices, at the Postal Store usps.com/shop or by calling 800-782-6724. They should affix the stamps to envelopes of their choice, address the envelopes to themselves or others and place them in envelopes addressed to:

FDOI – Dorothy Height
USPS Stamp Fulfillment Services
8300 NE Underground Drive, Suite 300
Kansas City, MO  64144-9900

After applying the first-day-of-issue postmark, the Postal Service will return the envelopes through the mail. There is no charge for postmarks up to a quantity of 50. For more than 50, customers are charged 5 cents each. All orders must be postmarked by April 1, 2017.