Barbara Jordan Stamp Issued

Former U.S. Rep. Barbara Jordan of Texas now has her own postage stamp. It's the 34th in the post office's Black Heritage series.

Jordan served three terms in Congress and in 1976 was the first woman and the first African-American to deliver a keynote address at a Democratic national convention. She described Americans as "a people in search of a national community" and said Americans were attempting to create a society "in which all of us are equal."

The new forever stamp was issued in Jordan's hometown of Houston and is on sale nationwide. She is also one of a small number of former members of Congress from Texas to be honored with a stamp of her own, following Sam Rayburn and Lyndon B. Johnson.

Last year’s honoree was filmmaker Oscar Micheaux. The series, which began in 1978 with a stamp honoring Harriet Tubman, has also depicted such political figures / social activists as Martin Luther King Jr., A Philip Randolph, W.E.B. DuBois, Roy Wilkins, Malcolm X, Paul Robeson, John H. Johnson, and Thurgood Marshall. (The Postal Service doesn't honor living people or anyone, except for recently deceased presidents, until they have been dead at least 10 years.)

Since 2007 the Postal Service has released a series of Forever Stamps, which have quickly become collector's items among stamp enthusiasts. Forever Stamps can be used anytime for domestic and international mail, even if the Postal Service increases postage costs.

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