Philatelic News
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 7, 2002
Stamp Release #02-053
Civil Rights Giant And First Black Supreme Court Justice Honored On 2003 Black Heritage Series Stamp
WASHINGTON - Thurgood Marshall, a famed civil rights lawyer and most notably the first African American to serve as a U.S. Supreme Court justice, will receive one of the nation's highest honors when the U.S. Postal Service issues a new commemorative postage stamp bearing his likeness.
The Thurgood Marshall stamp will be unveiled at the 125th annual meeting of the American Bar Association (ABA) on Aug. 9, at 11:45 a.m., at the Marriott Wardman Park Hotel, McKinley Room, 2660 Woodley Park Rd., NW. The stamp will be available at post offices after a first day of issue ceremony scheduled for January 2003.
"Through the issuance of this stamp, we celebrate Thurgood Marshall's life and history making career accomplishments," said Mary Anne Gibbons, Vice President and General Counsel for the Postal Service, who will unveil the stamp. We also remember his vital part in landmark cases that enhanced civil liberties and spurred social change in our country."
Joining Gibbons in the historic event will be ABA President Robert Hirshon and Thurgood Marshall's wife, Cecilia Marshall.
"My sons and I are so grateful that Thurgood Marshall joins so many other Americans who have been previously honored -including Roy Wilkins with whom he worked so closely- who did their best to make our country a living democracy," said Cecilia Marshall.
Born in Baltimore, Md., on July 2, 1908, Marshall graduated in 1930 from Lincoln University in Pennsylvania, determined to become a lawyer. Later that year he entered Howard University Law School in Washington, D.C.
After graduating first in his law school class in 1933, Marshall opened a private practice in Baltimore. In 1934, he also began to serve as pro bono counsel for the Baltimore branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). By 1936 he had closed his private practice and was working for the NAACP's national legal staff in New York City. In 1938, Marshall was promoted to chief counsel and became responsible for running the NAACP's legal office.
Marshall is one of the best known lawyers in the history of civil rights in America. He became the first director-counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund. Inc. (LDF) in 1940 and remained in that position for 21 years. In 1954, Marshall and his legal team prevailed in the landmark Supreme Court case, "Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas," that struck down segregation in public schools.
President Kennedy appointed him to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in 1961. He served in that court until 1965, when President Johnson appointed him the first African-American solicitor general of the United States.
Marshall made history again in 1967, when he was sworn in as the first African-American justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. His 24-year tenure was marked by his commitment to defending constitutional rights and affirmative action and by his strong opposition to the death penalty.
On Jan. 24, 1993, Marshall died in Bethesda, Md., at the age of 85. He was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom-our country's highest civilian honor-on Nov. 30, 1993.
Nine justices have been honored on U.S. postage stamps; six chief justices and three associate justices, including Thurgood Marshall. The chief justices include John Jay, John Marshall, William Howard Taft, Charles Evans Hughes, Harlan Fiske Stone and Earl Warren. Marshall joins associate justices Oliver Weddell Holmes and Hugo Black.
Marshall joins 25 other honorees in the Postal Service's Black Heritage series, which salutes outstanding African-American activists, theorists, educators and leaders. Other notable Americans in the series are: Harriet Tubman, Martin Luther King, Jr., Benjamin Banneker, Whitney Moore Young, Jackie Robinson, Scott Joplin, Carter G. Woodson, Mary McLeod Bethune, Sojourner Truth, Jean Baptiste Pointe Du Sable, James Weldon Johnson, A. Philip Randolph, Ida B. Wells, Jan E. Matzeliger, W.E.B. Du Bois, Percy Lavon Julian, Dr. Allison Davis, Bessie Coleman, Ernest E. Just, Benjamin O. Davis, Sr., Madam C.J. Walker, Malcolm X (El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz), Patricia Roberts Harris, Roy Wilkins and Langston Hughes, who was honored in January 2002.
The Thurgood Marshall stamp was designed by Richard Sheaff of Scottsdale, Ariz., and is the eighth in the Black Heritage series to feature a photograph. The black and white photograph was taken by Abdon Daoud Ackad, Sr., in late 1967, shortly after Marshall became a justice of the U. S. Supreme Court.
The Postal Service continues its commitment to honoring the historical achievements and contributions of African Americans. The Black Heritage stamp series is very popular, and given its significant educational and cultural importance, it will continue in the future.
To see the Thurgood Marshall stamp, visit the Postal Service Web site at www.usps.com, select "News and Events," click on "Philatelic News," then locate the online version of this news release.
Current U.S. stamps, as well as a free comprehensive catalog, are available toll free by calling 1 800 STAMP-24. In addition, a selection of stamps and other philatelic items are available at the Postal Store at www.usps.com/shop.
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Since 1775, the U.S. Postal Service has connected friends, families, neighbors and businesses by mail. It is an independent federal agency that visits 137 million homes and businesses every day and is the only service provider to deliver to every address in the nation. The Postal Service receives no taxpayer dollars for routine operations, but derives its operating revenues solely from the sale of postage, products and services. With annual revenues of more than $65 billion, it is the world's leading provider of postal services, offering some of the most affordable postage rates in the world. The Postal Service delivers more than 46 percent of the world's mail volume-some 207 billion letters, advertisements, periodicals and packages a year-and serves 7 million customers each day at its 40,000 retail locations nationwide.
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