Rep. John Lewis U.S. Postage Stamp Unveiled At Capitol
A stamp featuring a portrait of Rep. John Lewis was unveiled at the United States Capitol on Wednesday (June 21) during a special ceremony.
The stamp was first announced in December 2022 by the United States Postal Service. It features a photograph of Lewis taken by Marco Grob for the Aug. 26, 2013, issue of TIME magazine. The selvage showcases a photograph of Lewis taken by Steve Schapiro in 1963 outside a workshop about nonviolent protest in Clarksdale, MS.
NBC News reported the official dedication ceremony for the John Lewis Forever stamp will take place on July 21 at Morehouse College in Atlanta. Postmaster General Louis DeJoy also confirmed a post office in the Georgia capital would be named for the late congressman.
“Our nation certainly benefited from his fearlessness and his unfailing willingness to get into good trouble,” DeJoy remarked.
“I may be in a different party, I may have different views, but I’m an American. I got goosebumps and I got tears thinking how far we had come and thinking that John Lewis led the march on that bridge and led the introduction that day,” added House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., also spoke during the occasion, sharing, “The stamp will forever represent and commemorate one of our country’s greatest sons and the conscience of our Congress. It’s appropriate that one of our forever heroes will be recognized with a Forever stamp.”
The civil rights leader died in July 2020 at 80 years old following a battle with pancreatic cancer. He served in the House of Representatives from 1987 until his death. His televised funeral was held at Atlanta’s Ebenezer Baptist Church on Thursday with Former President Barack Obama delivering the eulogy.
“He believed that in all of us, there exists the capacity for great courage, a longing to do what’s right, a willingness to love all people, and to extend to them their God-given rights to dignity and respect,” Obama said. “So many of us lose that sense. It’s taught out of us. We start feeling as if, in fact, we can’t afford to extend kindness or decency to other people, that we’re better off if we’re above other people and looking down on them.”
Watch the unveiling of the John Lewis forever stamp below.
More from VIBE.com
