Hartford Post Office Delivers Black Heritage Local Programs

Author/Activist Charles Chesnutt Honored with Stamp

HARTFORD — Author-activist Charles Chesnutt wrote that “a great man is a human document.” And, in separate Black History Month events over the next week, the Postal Service in Hartford will recognize Chesnutt with a different type of document.

A postage stamp.

Chesnutt becomes the 31st honoree in the Postal Service’s Black Heritage Series. He was a pioneering writer whose work addressed a broad range of African-American experience in the years between the Civil War and World War 1.

Chesnutt, whose grandparents were mixed race, published works that touched on issues, particularly those affecting mixed-race Americans in the late 1800s. He once called racism “a barrier to the moral progress of the American people.”

Hartford Postmaster Judith Martin will lead three events in the area, including:

• On Friday, Feb. 22, the Hartford Main Post Office will host a stamp unveiling of Charles Chesnutt for 25 students from Sands Elementary School.

The students have written letters as part of an academic program established by the Hartford School Superintendent. Students will mail their letters with Charles Chesnutt stamps and tour the facility. This program begins at 9:30 am.

• On Wednesday, Feb. 27, at 6:30 p.m. at the East Hartford Library, there will be a second stamp unveiling of Charles Chesnutt in conjunction with the City’s Black History Program supported by the East Hartford Libraries. The Mayor of East Hartford will be in attendance.
• And at Hartford High School, on Friday Feb. 29, at 1:00 p.m. the Chesnutt stamp will be unveiled in conjunction with that school’s Diversity Program.

Postmaster Martin notes that many of Chesnutt’s works were set in the North Carolina of his childhood in the Reconstruction years. His first collection of short stories entitled The Conjure Woman was published in 1889. He would go on to publish more than 140 works, including books, essays, criticisms and poems.

Frequently, he wrote about the definition of color as a man of color who was frequently accepted as white.

For his pioneering works and activism, he would be honored by the NAACP in his later years. Chesnutt died in Cleveland in 1930. In 2001, the Library of America opened a significant collection of his work and introduced him to another generation of readers.

“I’m pleased that my grandfather has received this recognition,” said John Chesnutt Slade. “He is not a famous man, but I hope this stamp will help people learn more about his contributions to our country.”

For more information about this stamp, please visit: “An American Original”