42c J.R. Clifford and Joel Elias Spingarn stamp

On February 21, 2009, in New York, New York, the US Postal Service issued the 42-cent Civil Rights Pioneers commemorative stamp in six designs in a pressure-sensitive souvenir sheet of six stamps. Greg Berger of Bethesda, Maryland, designed the stamps.

The stamps honor twelve leaders of the struggle for African-American civil rights. These visionary men and women energized a movement that spanned generations. Art director Ethel Kessler and stamp designer Greg Berger, both of Bethesda, Maryland, chose to approach this project through photographic montage. Paring two pioneers on each stamp was a way of intensifying the montage effect.

Avery Dennison (AVR), Clinton, South Carolina, printed 24 million using the gravure process.

Reference:
Postal Bulletin, January 29, 2009.

Scott Catalogue USA: 4384b

Copyright United States Postal Service. All rights reserved.

Museum ID: 2009.2029.127