In celebration of Black History Month, the U.S. Postal Service is issuing a new "forever" stamp honoring civil rights icon Dorothy Height.
Height, a life-long activist, worked tirelessly for civil and women's rights until her death in 2010. President Barack Obama called her "the godmother of the Civil Rights Movement."
The stamp will be a tribute to Height's "legacy of seeking equality and justice for all Americans, regardless of ethnicity, gender or race," said Deputy Postmaster General Ronald Stroman, who dedicated the stamp during a ceremony at Howard University on Wednesday.
The stamp is the 40th entry in the Postal Service’s Black Heritage series and features a portrait of Height done by artist Thomas Blackshear II.
Height helped to organize the 1963 March on Washington and shared the stage with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and now-Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga. President John F. Kennedy named Height to his Commission on the Status of Women and she attended Kennedy’s 1963 signing of the Equal Pay Act.
Height is also the recipient of the nation’s two highest civilian honors, the Presidential Medal of Freedom delivered by President Bill Clinton in 1994 and the Congressional Gold Medal awarded by President George W. Bush in 2004.
She was a guest of Obama at his 2009 inauguration.
