USPS: A new civil right stamp was created from thousands of facebook and twitter profile photos

On 23 August 2013, the U.S. Postal Service issued a limited-edition Forever stamp to commemorate the March of 28 August 1963 for Jobs and Freedom, which attracted nearly 250,000 civil rights supporters came together on Washington D.C. The stamp, which was unveiled via Facebook and Twitter as the first time for the postal service, was designed by the artist Gregory Manchess under the art direction of Antonio Alcalá of Alexandria.

Fifty years ago, on 28 August 1963, nearly a quarter of a million people joined together in Washington, DC, to participate in the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. It was then that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., delivered his powerful “I Have a Dream” speech on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, a defining moment of the American Civil Rights Movement.

Beginning with a reference to the Emancipation Proclamation, which freed millions of slaves in 1863, King observes that: “one hundred years later, the Negro still is not free”. At the end of the speech, King departed from his prepared text for a partly improvised peroration on the theme “I have a dream”, possibly prompted by Mahalia Jackson’s cry: “Tell them about the dream, Martin!”. In this part of the speech, which most excited the listeners and has now become its most famous, King described his dreams of freedom and equality arising from a land of slavery and hatred. Jon Meacham writes that, “With a single phrase, Martin Luther King, Jr. joined Jefferson and Lincoln in the ranks of men who've shaped modern America”. The speech was ranked the top American speech of the 20th century in a 1999 poll of scholars of public address.

The artist illustrated marchers against the background of the Washington Monument. Placards asking for equal rights and jobs for all-two principal themes of the march-are conspicuously exhibited. Manchess used extensive strokes and painting with oils on gessoed illustration board to convey an impressionistic effect of the historic event. The USPS used profile images of about 3,000 Facebook and Twitter users to create a mosaic picture. Throughout this month, people added their photos to the March on Washington Stamp Mosaic on the USPS Stamps Facebook page to help reveal a small stamp. During Friday’s First Day of Issue ceremony at the Newseum in Washington, D.C., actress Gabrielle Union completed the stamp by adding her Twitter profile picture to the mosaic.

In the recent years, USPS has faced many financial problems. They have tried to engage a new generation of stamp collectors to stay relevant in a digital age./.

Trường Sơn

Source of images:  USPS & fastcompany

Articles
Liberia: Cocoa scented postage stamps hit the market
18/03/2013
Finland: New technology in forest stamps
16/03/2013
Liechtenstein: the first time a postage stamp is appearing in silhouette form
23/01/2012
South Korea: Dinosaurs stamps with perforations in the shape of dinosaur
27/10/2011
© 2007-2014 VIET STAMP CLUB (VSC)

Address: 2/47 Phan Thúc Duyện street, ward 4, Tân Bình district, Hồ Chí Minh city, Việt Nam.

Email: vietstamp.net@gmail.com | Tel: (84-8) 38111467