Bookrt T. Washington, born a slave in 1856, achieved great success as one of the most important educators in American History. African-American-Stamp-Collection
Agricultural chemist, George Washington Carver discovered three hundred uses for peanuts and hundreds more uses for soybeans, pecans and sweet potatoes. He start popularizing uses for peanut products including peanut butter, paper, ink, and oils beginning in 1880.
Scott Joplin (between July 1867 and January 1868 – April 1, 1917) was an African American composer and pianist, born near Texarkana, Texas, into the first post-slavery generation. He achieved fame for his unique ragtime compositions, and was dubbed the "King of Ragtime."
Thurgood Marshall (July 2, 1908 – Jan. 24, 1993) was an Amer. jurist and the first African Amer. to serve on the U. S. Supreme Court. Before becoming a judge, he was a lawyer who was remembered for his high success rate in arguing before the Supreme Court and for the victory in Brown v. Board of Ed.
Sojourner Truth (c. 1797 – November 26, 1883) was the self-given name, from 1843, of Isabella Baumfree, an African-American abolitionist and women's rights activist. Truth was born into slavery in Swartekill, New York. Her best-known speech, Ain't I a Woman?, was delivered in 1851.
Booker T. Washington birthplace, stamp issued 1956.
John James Audubon (April 26, 1785 – January 27, 1851)Born in Haiti, Audubon was a French-American ornithologist, naturalist, hunter, and painter. He painted, catalogued, and described the birds of North America in a form far superior to what had gone before.
Oscar Devereaux Micheaux (2 January 1884 – 25 March 1951) was an American author and film director. Predated by the short lived Lincoln Motion Picture Company that put out smaller films, he is regarded as the first African-American feature filmmaker, and the most prominent producer of race films.
Booker Taliaferro Washington
(April 5, 1856 – November 14, 1915)

First African American United States Postage Stamp.

Born a slave and achieved great success as one of the
most important educators in United States history.

Stamp Issued 1940
Booker T. Washington with his daughter Portia and his sons, Booker T. Jr., and Ernest.
The Booker T. Washington half dollar, Phildelphia mint 1946.
75th Anniversary of the 13th Amendment issued Oct. 20, 1940, portrays a slave bowing on his knee to Abraham Lincoln.
George Washington Carver (January 1864 – January 5, 1943), was an American scientist, botanist, educator and inventor. Much of Carver's fame is based on his research into and promotion of alternative crops to cotton, such as peanuts and sweet potatoes.
Emancipation stamp issued Chicago, IL - Aug. 16, 1963.
Frederick Douglass (born Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey, circa 1818 – February 20, 1895) an American abolitionist, women's suffragist, editor, orator, author, statesman, minister and reformer. Escaping from slavery. Douglas is one of the most prominent figures in American History.
Peter Salem pictured behind Lt. Thomas Grosvenor The Battle of Bunker Hill painting by John Trumball New Haven, CT - Oct. 18, 1968 128,295,000 issued
20¢ Audubon Air Mail Jays Stamp Issued New York, NY April 26, 1967
From John James Audubon's Birds of America book, 37 cents stamp issued 27-Jun-2002 portray the Louisiana Tanager and the Scarlet Tanager.
The 22-cent stamp in the Great Americans Series featuring John J. Audubon was issued on April 23, 1985, in New York City, to celebrate the 200th anniversary year of his birth.
Henry Ossawa Tanner (June 21, 1859–May 25, 1937) was an African American artist best known for his style of painting. He was the first African American painter to gain international acclaim. "The Banjo Lesson," is his most famous painting.
Paul Laurence Dunbar was the first African-American to gain national eminence as a poet. Born in 1872 in Dayton, Ohio, he was the son of ex-slaves and classmate to Orville Wright of aviation fame. He only lived to be 33 years old when he dies of tuberculosis on Feb. 9, 1906.
Salem Poor (1748-1802) was an African-American slave who purchased his freedom, became a soldier, and rose to fame as a war hero during the American Revolutionary War.
Harriet Tubman (born Araminta Ross; c. 1820 – March 10, 1913) was an African-American abolitionist, humanitarian, and Union spy during the Civil War. After escaping from slavery, she made 13 missions to rescue over 70 slaves using the Underground Railroad. The month she died Rosa Parks was born.
Martin Luther King, Jr. (January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968) was an American clergyman, activist and prominent leader in the African American civil rights movement. His main legacy was to secure progress on civil rights in the United States, and he has become a human rights icon.
Benjamin Banneker (November 9, 1731 – October 9, 1806) was a free African American astronomer, mathematician, surveyor, almanac author and farmer.
Charles Richard Drew (3 June 1904 – 1 April 1950) was an African-Amer. physician, surgeon and medical researcher. He researched in the field of blood transfusions, developing improved techniques for blood storage, and applied his expert knowledge to developing large-scale blood banks early in WWII.
Whitney Moore Young Jr. (July 31, 1921 – March 11, 1971) was an American civil rights leader. He spent his career working to end employment discrimination in the United States and turning the National Urban League into an organization that fought for equitable opportunity for all.
Ralph J. Bunche (Aug 7, 1904 – Dec 9, 1971) was an Amer. political scientist and diplomat He was the first person of color to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. He was involved in the formation and administration of the United Nations. In 1963, he received the Medal of Freedom from President Kennedy.
Mary Jane McLeod Bethune (July 10, 1875 – May 18, 1955) was an American educator and civil rights leader best known for starting a school for black students in Daytona Beach, Florida that eventually became Bethune-Cookman University and for being an advisor to President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
William Boyd Allison Davis (Oct. 14, 1902 – Nov. 21, 1983) was an educator, anthropologist, writer, researcher, and scholar. He was considered one of the most promising black scholars of his generation, and became the first African-American to hold a full faculty position at a major white uni
Nathaniel Adams Coles (March 17, 1919 – Feb.15, 1965) known as Nat "King" Cole, was an Amer. musician who first came to fame as a leading jazz pianist. Although an accomplished pianist, he owes most of his musical fame to his soft baritone voice. He was one of the first blacks to host a TV show.
Chester Arthur Burnett (June 10, 1910 – January 10, 1976), better known as Howlin' Wolf, was an influential American blues singer, guitarist and harmonica player. With a booming voice and looming physical presence, Burnett is commonly ranked among the leading performers in electric blues.
Willie M. "Bill" Pickett (Dec. 5, 1870- April 2, 1932) was a cowboy and rodeo star. Born in Travis County, Texas, he was one of 13 children born to former slave parents. He invented the technique of bulldogging, the skill of grabbing cattle by the horns and wrestling them to the ground.
A 1994 U.S. postage stamp meant to honor Pickett accidentally showed one of his brothers.
Elizabeth “Bessie” Coleman (January 26, 1892 – April 30, 1926) was an American civil aviator. She was the first African American pilot and the first person to hold an international pilot license.
Ferdinand "Jelly Roll" Morton (Sept. 20, 1885 – July 10, 1941) was born into a Creole community in the Faubourg Marigny neighborhood of downtown New Orleans. Recognized as a pivotal figure in early jazz, Morton claimed to have invented jazz in 1902.
Charles Parker, Jr. (August 29, 1920 – March 12, 1955) was an American jazz saxophonist and composer. He is largely considered one of the most influential of jazz musicians. Parker acquired the nickname "Yardbird" early in his career and "Bird" remained Parker's nickname for the rest of his life.
James Hubert Blake (February 7, 1887 – February 12, 1983) was an American composer, lyricist, and pianist of ragtime, jazz, and popular music. In 1921, Blake and Noble Sissle wrote the Broadway musical Shuffle Along, one of the first Broadway musicals to be written and directed by African Americans.
Charles Mingus, Jr. (April 22, 1922 – January 5, 1979) was an American jazz musician, composer, bandleader, and human rights activist.Having released numerous records of high regard, Mingus is considered one of the most important composers and performers of jazz and a pioneer in bass technique.
Thelonious Sphere Monk[1] (October 10, 1917 – February 17, 1982) was an American jazz pianist and composer was one of the giants of American music. Monk had a unique improvisational style and made numerous contributions to the standard jazz repertoire.
John William Coltrane (sometimes abbreviated to "Trane"; September 23, 1926 – July 17, 1967[1]) was an American jazz saxophonist and composer. He was prolific, making about fifty recordings as a leader during his recording career, and appeared as a sideman on many other albums.
Erroll Louis Garner (June 15, 1921 – January 2, 1977) was an American jazz pianist and composer known for his swing playing and ballads. His best-known composition, the ballad "Misty", has become a jazz standard.
Ernest Everett Just (August 14, 1883 – October 27, 1941) was a pioneering African American biologist, academic and science writer. Just's primary legacy is his recognition of the fundamental role of the cell surface in the development of organisms.
John Henry is an American folk hero, noted for having raced against a steam hammer and won. The truth about him as the strongest man alive is obscured by time and myth, but legend has it that he was a slave born in Missouri in the 1840s and fought his battle with the steam engine in West Virginia.
William "Count" Basie (August 21, 1904 – April 26, 1984) was an American jazz pianist, organist, bandleader, and composer. Widely regarded as one of the most important jazz bandleaders of his time, Basie led his popular Count Basie Orchestra for almost 50 years.
Brigadier General Benjamin Oliver Davis, Sr. (July 1, 1877 – November 26, 1970) was an American general and the father of Benjamin O. Davis Jr. He was the first African-American general in the United States Army. His son was the first US Air Force General.
James Cleveland "Jesse" Owens (September 12, 1913 – March 31, 1980) was an American track and field athlete. He participated in the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, Germany, where he achieved international fame by winning four gold medals.
Huddie William Ledbetter (January 1888 – December 6, 1949) was an iconic American folk and blues musician, notable for his strong vocals, his virtuosity on the 12-string guitar, and the songbook of folk standards he introduced.
Saunders Terrell, better known as Sonny Terry (24 October 1911, Greensboro, North Carolina - 11 March 1986, Mineola, New York was a blind blues musician. He was most widely known for his blues harmonica style, which frequently included vocal whoops and hollers, and imitations of trains.
Joshua Daniel White (February 11, 1914–-September 5, 1969),[1] best known as Josh White, was a American singer, guitarist, songwriter, actor, and civil rights activist. White also would become the closest African-American friend and confidant to the president Franklin D. Roosevelt.
Mahalia Jackson (October 26, 1911[1] – January 27, 1972) was an African-American gospel singer. With her powerful contralto voice, she became one of the most influential gospel singers in the world and is the first Queen of Gospel Music. She recorded about 35 albums, including 12 gold 45 rpms
Clara Ward (April 21, 1924 – January 16, 1973)[1] was an American gospel artist who achieved great success, both artistic and commercial, in the 1940s and 1950s as leader of The Famous Ward Singers.
Rosetta Tharpe (March 20, 1915 – October 9, 1973) was a pioneering gospel singer, songwriter and recording artist who attained great popularity in the 1930s and 1940s with a unique mixture of spiritual lyrics and early rock and roll accompaniment. She became the first great recording star of gospel.
Joshua Gibson (December 21, 1911 – January 20, 1947) was an American catcher in baseball's Negro Leagues. Baseball historians consider Gibson to be among the very best catchers and power hitters in history. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1972.
Patricia Roberts Harris (May 31, 1924 – March 23, 1985) served as U. S. Sec. of Housing and Urban Development, and U.S. Sec. of Health, Education, and Welfare in the administration of President Carter. She was the first African Amer. woman to serve as a U. S Ambassador under President Johnson.
Roy Wilkins (August 30, 1901 – September 8, 1981) was a prominent civil rights activist in the United States from the 1930s to the 1970s. Wilkins' most notable role was in his leadership of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).
James Mercer Langston Hughes, (February 1, 1902 – May 22, 1967) was an American poet, novelist, playwright, short story writer, and columnist. He was one of the earliest innovators of the new literary art form jazz poetry. Hughes is best-known for his work during the Harlem Renaissance.
Zee Van Der James (June 29, 1886 - May 15, 1983) was an African American photographer known for his portraits of black New Yorkers. He was a leading figure in the Harlem Renaissance. Aside from the artistic merits of his work, Van Der Zee produced the most comprehensive documentation of the period.
Ethel L. Payne (Aug. 14, 1911 - May 28, 1991) was an award-winning African American journalist. Known as the "First Lady of the Black Press", she was a columnist, lecturer, and free-lance writer. She became the first female African American commentator employed by a national network at CBS in 1972.
Zora Neale Hurston (Jan. 7, 1891 – Jan. 28, 1960) was an American folklorist, anthropologist, and author during the time of the Harlem Renaissance. Of Hurston's four novels and more than 50 published short stories, plays, and essays, she is best known for her 1937 novel Their Eyes Were Watching God.
Children's Stamp - Friendship - the Key to World Peace Washington, D.C. Dec. 15, 1956 100,975,000 issued
Support Our Youth stamp Issued Chicago, IL - May 1, 1968
William Christopher Handy (November 16, 1873 – March 28, 1958) was a blues composer and musician, often known as the "Father of the Blues". Handy remains among the most influential of American songwriters. Handy the blues to one of the dominant forces in American music.
In 1893 on a short return visit to the United States, from Paris, France, Tanner painted his most famous work, The Banjo Lesson. The painting shows an elderly black man teaching what is assumed to be his grandson how to play the banjo.
Issued by the USPS in 1963. From an Audubon painting of Columbia Jays.
Doris "Dorie" Miller (October 12, 1919 – November 24, 1943) was a cook in the United States Navy noted for his bravery during the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. He was the first African American to be awarded the Navy Cross, the third highest honor awarded by the US Navy at the time.
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The African American Stamp Collection
The Mahalia video below is less than optimal but the performance is a lesson in music history.
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Harriet Tubman (born Araminta Ross; c. 1820 or 1821 – March 10, 1913) was an African-American abolitionist, humanitarian, and Union spy during the American Civil War. After escaping from slavery, into which she was born, she made thirteen missions to rescue over seventy slaves using the network of antislavery activists and safe houses known as the Underground Railroad. She later helped John Brown recruit men for his raid on Harpers Ferry, and in the post-war era struggled for women's suffrage.
Washington was married three times. Here he is pictured with his third wife Margaret, his daughter Portia and his two sons Booker T. Jr. and Ernest.
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