Gwen Ifill Stamp Dedication

Gwen Ifill Stamp

The North Carolina Chapter of the Ebony Society of Philatelic Events and Reflections (ESPER), the Sen-iors in the Spotlight Stamp Club (SSSC) and the Senior Advisory Senior Council of Friendship Missionary Baptist Church are sponsoring a Stamp Dedication of the Forever postage stamp honoring Gwen Ifill which was offi-cially released by the U. S. Postal Service on January 30, 2020. The ceremony will take place at Friendship Missionary Baptist Church Conference Center, 3400 Beatties Ford Road, on Tuesday, March 17, 2020 from 10:30 am-12 o’clock noon. Residents of Charlotte and surrounding areas are invited and encouraged to attend. Erica Bryant, American Emmy-award winning Journalist and co-anchor of WSOC-TV’s Channel 9 Eye-witness News will be the Mistress of Ceremony.

Ifill made history at PBS as the first Black woman to host a national political talk show on “Washington Week”, and as a member of the first all-female anchor team on a nightly newscast with NEWSHOUR. Ifill was one of the first African Americans to hold prominent positions in both broadcast and print journalism. She is an honorary member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority and the local chapter, The Charlotte Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority will co-host the event.

The stamp is the 43rd in the Black Heritage Series which began in 1978 with the issuance of a stamp honoring Harriet Tubman. Following Tubman came releases by the U. S. Postal Service of postage stamps hon-oring Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Benjamin Banneker, Althea Gibson, Jackie Robinson, Scott Joplin, Carter G. Woodson, and Mary McCleod Bethune, to name a few. A stamp is issued annually, usually in January or Feb-ruary, which is Black History Month, in recognition of an African American icon. The Black Heritage Series is the longest running commemorative series in U.S. Postal history.

Beatrice A. Cox/Eloise Harris
Event Co-Chairs (312-320-4524)
Vivian Roscoe, President
Seniors in the Spotlight Stamp Club
(704-516-5641)