Vintage Unveiling
USPS honors African-American cultural experience

From left, Paul Ellington, grandson of Duke Ellington, Actress Lynn Whitfield, Newark Mayor Cory Booker, VP and Consumer Advocate Delores Killette, Jean-Claude Baker, son of Josephine Baker and Martha Jordon, widow of Louis Jordan.

USPS unveiled the Vintage Black Cinema stamps July 16 during the Black Film Festival in the Newark, NJ, Museum. The 42-cent stamps commemorative five advertising posters for movies produced for African-American audiences prior to 1950.

“Whether spotlighting the talents of entertainment icons Josephine Baker, Duke Ellington, Paul Laurence Dunbar, Fredi Washington, Louis Jordan, Daniel Haynes, Victoria Spivey or King Vidor, or documenting changing social attitudes and expectations — these posters now serve a greater purpose than publicity and promotion,” VP and Consumer Advocate Delores Killette said. “They are invaluable pieces of history, preserving memories of cultural phenomena that otherwise might have been forgotten.”

Joining Killette at the unveiling was Emmy-Award winning Actress Lynn Whitfield, who played the leading role in The Josephine Baker Story. Also in attendance were Josephine Baker’s son Jean-Claude Baker and his brother, Jarry, Louis Jordan’s widow, Martha Jordan and Duke Ellington’s grandson, Paul Ellington.

“My adoptive mother would be delighted, thrilled and deeply moved by this wonderful tribute to African-American culture,” said Jean-Claude Baker.

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