[Framed Commemorative Display of an Uncut Quarter Sheet of Booker T. Washington Stamps Presented to Booker T. Washington III by an Important African-American Postal Trade Union]

New York: April 8, 1940. Very good.. Framed display, 19 x 13 inches, comprised of an uncut sheet of stamps above calligraphic text. Minor wear and some toning. A handsome and unique commemorative display piece honoring famed educator Booker T. Washington, given to his grandson as a keepsake by an important African-American trade union. The display is comprised of an uncut quarter sheet of seventy 1940 Booker T. Washington ten-cent stamps, inscribed at the bottom right by New York Postmaster Albert Goldman on April 8, 1940 (the stamp's second day of issue), which was then mounted above a calligraphic inscription at bottom reading as follows: "Booker T. Washington Commemorative Stamps -- Famous American Series Presented to Booker T. Washington, 3d Grandson of the educator by The National Alliance of Postal Employees On the occasion of the ceremonies honoring that great educator Booker T. Washington and incident to placing this commemorative stamp on sale for the first time at New York, New York April 8, 1940." The ten-cent stamp features a distinctive portrait of Booker T. Washington, and was the first stamp issued in the United States to feature an African American subject.

"On April 7, 1940, the Post Office Department (POD) issued a stamp honoring African-American educator Booker T. Washington (1856-1915) as part of its Famous Americans Series. The nation's first stamp to honor an African-American, it holds a unique place in American history.... In 1938, President Franklin D. Roosevelt, responding to numerous petitions from African-American supporters, recognized the timeliness of such a stamp and directed that Washington be considered for this important stamp series.  Major Robert Richard Wright, Sr., among others, had aggressively lobbied for a stamp honoring Booker T. Washington since Roosevelt took office in 1933. When Wright read the POD's decision to feature Washington on the 10¢ stamp, announced in 1939, he reflected with gratification, [the stamp] 'comes pretty nearly within the limit of seventy-five years of Negro Emancipation.' He objected, however, to its high denomination, preferring to see it as one of the lower-priced, more affordable denominations used by the public daily. He worried that the cost of the 10¢ stamp 'will not induce a large first day sale...among colored people.' Echoing Wright's concerns, The Washington Tribune recommended that its readers buy the stamp for special delivery and parcel post mailings.... Numerous institutions, all important in the lives of African-Americans, clamored to host the stamp's first day of issue ceremony. The POD selected Tuskegee Institute, founded by Washington in 1881, for this watershed ceremony's location. Guests gathered in the Institute Chapel. Postmaster General James A. Farley attended the ceremony and afterwards, joined by the Tuskegee Club of Montgomery, Alabama, placed a wreath at Washington's tomb.... Enthusiasm for the Booker T. Washington stamp and its momentous significance for the African-American population prompted two official second day of issue ceremonies, events unprecedented in philatelic history -- one in New York City and the other in Philadelphia...." - Smithsonian National Postal Museum.

The entity presenting the present display, the National Alliance of Postal Employees was an important African American trade union, and the perfect organization to honor Booker T. Washington with such a philatelic display. According to the Department of Labor's 1926 Handbook of American Trade-Unions: "In 1913 the National Alliance of Postal Employees was organized by the colored postal men. It is composed chiefly of men in the Railway Mail Service, but its jurisdiction is not restricted to any one branch, its aim being one organization for all colored workers in the Postal Service." The government's handbook did not reveal the reason the NAPE had to be founded at all: African American workers were not allowed to join the all-white Railway Mail Association in 1913. So African American postal employees started their own union, founded in Chattanooga, Tennessee on October 6, 1913. By 1923, the union admitted all African Americans in the U.S. Postal Service and numbered about 1,700 members two years later. The union would continue to grow and expand its representation outside the postal service, eventually changing its name to the National Alliance of Postal and Federal Employees, under which it still operates today.

A wonderful display item honoring one of the most important African-American figures in American history and celebrating the first appearance of an African American figure on a United States postage stamp.