Press Release

ALPHA KAPPA ALPHA HONORARY MEMBER, DR. MAYA ANGELOU HONORED WITH U.S. POSTAL SERVICE STAMP

April 7, 2015

Washington, D.C. – Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated® proudly commends the issuance of a stamp by the U.S. Postal Service celebrating the life of honorary member Dr. Maya Angelou, an author, poet, filmmaker, actress and champion of civil rights.

A First-Day-of-Issue stamp dedication ceremony will be held Tuesday, April 7, 2015 at 11 a.m. at the Warner Theater in Washington, D.C. It is free and open to the public, but seating is limited.

Dr. Angelou, best known for I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, her autobiography about life in the segregated south, died May 28, 2014, at age 86. She delivered an inspiring poem at President Clinton's first inauguration in 1993. In 2010, President Obama awarded her the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the country's highest civilian honor. “Maya Angelou inspired our nation through a life of advocacy and through her many contributions to the written and spoken word," Postmaster General Megan Brennan said in a statement in announcing the stamp in February. “Her wide-ranging achievements as a playwright, poet, memoirist, educator, and advocate for justice and equality enhanced our culture."

Members of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, including North Atlantic Regional Director Meredith L. Henderson and Mid-Atlantic Regional Director Joyce Henderson, both members of the Sorority’s International Board of Directors, and journalist Sophia Nelson, also a member of the Sorority, are expected to attend tomorrow’s ceremony.

Speaking on behalf of the Sorority’s more than 283,000 members worldwide, International President Dorothy Buckhanan Wilson lauded Angelou as “a civil rights icon, a literary trailblazer, and one of the most prolific voices in 20th century American literature.”

“We applaud the U.S. Postal Service for recognizing the contributions of such a phenomenal humanitarian and her contributions to the world,” Buckhanan Wilson said.

Also expected to attend the ceremony are Angelou’s grandson Colin Johnson, poet and civil rights activist Nikki Giovanni and civil rights activist Rev. Al Sharpton. MSNBC anchor Melissa Harris-Perry will serve as the master of ceremonies.

The Maya Angelou stamp is being issued as a Forever® stamp. It includes the quotation “A bird doesn’t sing because it has an answer, it sings because it has a song.” It also has a short excerpt from Dr. Angelou’s book Letter to My Daughter and reads: “Try to be a rainbow in someone’s cloud.”

The stamp uses a 2013 portrait of Dr. Angelou by Atlanta-based artist Ross Rossin. The painting is part of the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery's collection. Art director Ethel Kessler, of Bethesda, MD., designed the stamp.

Dr. Angelou was inducted into the Sorority in 1983. She was among the ranks of Rosa Parks and Coretta Scott King who were bestowed honorary membership in Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority.

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