17328: ICYMI USPS RFI BS.

MediaPost reported the US Postal Service retained a White search consultancy; plus, an RFI has been issued to White advertising agencies and White media firms.

 

The USPS and consultancy insist the RFI represents an exploratory exercise, and a competitive pitch has not yet launched.

 

Expect the following delivery process: RFI > RFP > RIF

 

Also, non-White advertising agencies and media firms can count on collecting crumbs and experiencing Prime Redlining.

 

Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these [White] couriers from the swift completion of their appointed [discriminatory] rounds.

 

Postal Service Issues RFI, Taps JLB To Study Ad Market

 

By Steve McClellan

 

In advance of a likely competitive pitch for new media and creative agency assignments, the US Postal Service has retained search consultant JLB + Partners and issued a request for information to a number of media and creative shops.  

 

USPS spent approximately $150 million on net media expenditures in 2025, according to agency research firm COMvergence. 

 

A spokesman for the postal service stressed that it has not yet launched a formal review for new agencies. 

 

Instead, he said it is “performing ongoing market research regarding the advertising and media services market and issued a Request for Information (RFI) in December ... to both creative and media agencies.” 

 

JLB, the spokesman added, “is supporting this effort as a consultant focused on market trends. The RFI is not a competitive Request for Proposal (RFP) concerning any potential future requirements.” 

 

In recent years USPS has worked with McCann Worldgroup and its agency MRM on campaigns.

16987: Belated BHM 2025—US Post Office.

 

Despite President Donald J. Trump issuing an anti-DEIBA+ executive order in January 2025, the US Post Office delivered a special commemorative stamp featuring Allen Toussaint for Black History Month.

16530: BHM 2024—USPS.

For BHM 2024, the USPS unveiled its annual Black Heritage series stamp, featuring a portrait of Constance Baker Motley rendered by Fine Artist Charly Palmer.

 

This year’s Black Heritage stamp honors a legal trailblazer

 

Constance Baker Motley was the first African American woman to argue a case before the Supreme Court

 

The Postal Service will release this year’s Black Heritage stamp, honoring civil rights activist and pioneering jurist Constance Baker Motley, on Wednesday, Jan. 31.

 

Motley is the first African American woman to argue a case before the U.S. Supreme Court and the first to serve as a federal judge.

 

She started her career in 1945 when she began working for future Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall at the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund.

 

From 1945 to 1965, Motley worked on about 60 cases that reached the Supreme Court. She won nine of the 10 cases she argued there.

 

In 1966, Motley was nominated by President Lyndon B. Johnson to a seat on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York — the largest and busiest federal trial court in the country. She rose to chief judge in 1982 and senior judge in 1986.

 

The stamp features a portrait of Motley by artist Charly Palmer, based on an Associated Press photograph.

 

Rendered in acrylic on canvas, the portrait displays elements of Palmer’s signature style, including stenciled circular shapes around the head that suggest royalty, and heavy brushstrokes and scratches that provide added texture.

 

Motley is the 47th honoree in the Black Heritage stamp series, joining other luminaries such as Marshall, lawmaker Barbara Jordan, educator Mary McLeod Bethune and journalist Gwen Ifill.

 

The Constance Baker Motley stamp will be available in panes of 20 at Post Offices and usps.com.

 

The Postal Service will dedicate the stamp Jan. 31 at a ceremony in New York City.

16392: US Postal & Piñatas Service.

 

USPS celebrates National Hispanic Heritage Month with new Piñatas! Stamps. So, go postal on piñatas!

10638: BHM 2023—USPS.

For BHM, the USPS delivered its annual Black Heritage series stamp, featuring author Ernest J. Gaines. Other stamps honor novelist Toni Morrison and U.S. Rep. John Lewis.

 

African American History Month

 

Annual celebration begins Feb. 1

 

The Postal Service will observe African American History Month in February.

 

USPS traditionally commemorates the month by releasing the latest stamp in its Black Heritage series. This year’s honoree — the 46th in the series — is author Ernest J. Gaines, who explored the lives of African Americans in the post-Civil War and Jim Crow South in such modern classics as “The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman” and “A Lesson Before Dying.”

 

Although not part of the Black Heritage series, two other prominent African Americans will also be honored with stamps this year: novelist Toni Morrison, winner of the 1993 Nobel Prize in Literature, and U.S. Rep. John Lewis, a civil rights leader.

 

The seed for African American History Month was planted in 1926 by Carter G. Woodson, an early-20th-century historian who fought for recognition of the contributions of Black Americans to the nation. That year, he helped launch an observance in the second week of February timed to coincide with the birthdays of Frederick Douglass (Feb. 14) and Abraham Lincoln (Feb. 12).

 

In 1976, 50 years after the original event, President Gerald R. Ford officially declared February Black History Month and urged citizens “to seize the opportunity to honor the too-often neglected accomplishments of black Americans in every area of endeavor throughout our history.”

 

The group Woodson helped found, now called the Association for the Study of African American Life and History, chooses a theme for the observance each year; for 2023, it’s “Black Resistance.” The association will hold a virtual festival exploring the topic in depth.

 

More information on African American History Month — as well as related exhibits and events at the Library of Congress, Smithsonian and more — can be found at BlackHistoryMonth.gov.

 

The Postal History section on usps.com has a trove of information on African Americans in USPS history, including articles about 19th-century and 20th-century African American postal employees.

16079: USPS Celebrates Kwanzaa Forever.

 

The USPS issued Kwanzaa Forever Stamps designed by Art Director Antonio Alcalá with original artwork from Erin Robinson.

 

Amazing that the USPS has not yet released Wakanda Forever Stamps.

 

15724: BHM 2022—USPS.

 

The USPS mails it in for Black History Month with a commemorative stamp featuring Sculptor Edmonia Lewis. Here’s the postal PR:

 

Edmonia Lewis

The 45th stamp in the Black Heritage series honors sculptor Edmonia Lewis (circa 1844-1907). As the first African American and Native American sculptor to achieve international recognition, Lewis challenged social barriers and assumptions about artists in mid-19th century America. The stamp art is a casein-on-wood portrait of Lewis, based on a photograph taken in Boston between 1864 and 1871. Art director Antonio Alcalá designed the stamp with original art by Alex Bostic.

 

14911: BHM 2020—USPS.

The United States Postal Service delivered a Black History Month salute with the Gwen Ifill Forever stamp.

U.S. Postal Service Salutes Pioneering Journalist Gwen Ifill

43rd Black Heritage Stamp on Sale Nationwide Today

WASHINGTON — As the nation prepares to observe Black History Month, the U.S. Postal Service today issued the 43rd Black Heritage stamp, honoring one of America’s most respected journalists, Gwen Ifill. The dedication ceremony was held at Metropolitan African Methodist Episcopal Church in Washington, DC, where she was a lifelong member.

“Gwen Ifill was a remarkable trailblazer who broke through gender and racial barriers,” said Deputy Postmaster General Ronald A. Stroman, who served as the dedicating official. “The Postal Service is proud to celebrate Gwen’s contribution as a remarkable journalist with this beautiful commemorative Forever stamp. Gwen was truly a national treasure, and so richly deserving of today’s honor.”

Joining Stroman to dedicate the stamp were Judy Woodruff, anchor and managing editor, PBS NewsHour; Eric Holder, partner, Covington & Burling Law Firm and former Attorney General of the United States; Michele Norris-Johnson, journalist and former National Public Radio host; and Ifill’s brothers Roberto (Bert) Ifill, educator and college analyst; Rev. Earle Ifill, member of the Atlanta North-Georgia Annual Conference of the Sixth Episcopal District of the African Methodist Episcopal Church; and Ifill’s cousin, Sherrilyn Ifill, president and director-counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc.

“The Ifill family is thrilled that our sister, cousin and aunt has received this signal tribute to her legacy as a truth-teller, pioneer and exemplar,” said Bert Ifill, Gwen’s brother and spokesperson for the family. “As a reporter and moderator, Gwen was dedicated to two principles: getting the story right and getting the right stories out. As a mentor, supportive friend and family member, she was determined, not only to open doors for those of us previously locked out of opportunity, but also to provide floor plans to help us find our way through. She is forever in our hearts, and we are forever in her debt.”

Also, participating in the stamp dedication ceremony were Dorothy Tucker, broadcast journalist and president, National Association of Black Journalists; Rev. William Lamar IV, senior pastor, Metropolitan A.M.E. Church; and D.C. Washington, singer, conductor, member of Immanuel Bible Church and the nationally known Cathedral Choral Society in Washington, D.C.

The Black Heritage stamp series, introduced in 1978, also includes Martin Luther King Jr., Dorothy Height, Madam C.J. Walker, Harriet Tubman, Sojourner Truth, Lena Horne and Gregory Hines. The stamp art features a photo of Ifill taken in 2008 by photographer Robert Severi. Art director Derry Noyes designed the stamp. News of the stamp is being shared with the hashtags #GwenIfillForever and #BlackHeritageStamps. Followers of the Postal Service’s Facebook page can view video of the ceremony at facebook.com/USPS.

Background on Gwen Ifill

Among the first African Americans to hold prominent positions in both broadcast and print journalism, Ifill was a trailblazer in the profession.

After graduating from college in 1977, Ifill’s first job as a journalist was at The Boston Herald American. She later worked at The Baltimore Evening Sun, The Washington Post and The New York Times, where she was a White House correspondent and covered Bill Clinton’s presidential campaign in 1992.

In 1994, Ifill moved to NBC, where she covered politics in the Washington bureau. Five years later, she joined PBS as senior political correspondent for “The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer” and moderator and managing editor of “Washington Week,” becoming the first woman and first African American to moderate a major television news-analysis show. During her career, Ifill covered seven presidential campaigns and, in 2004, she became the first African American female journalist to moderate a vice-presidential debate. She also moderated the 2008 vice-presidential debate. In 2013, Ifill became part of the first all-female team to anchor a daily national broadcast news show, “PBS NewsHour.” Ifill died in 2016.

Among Ifill’s honors were the Radio Television Digital News Foundation’s Leonard Zeidenberg First Amendment Award (2006), Harvard’s Shorenstein Center’s Goldsmith Career Award for Excellence in Journalism (2009) and induction into the National Association of Black Journalists Hall of Fame (2012). In 2015, she was awarded the Fourth Estate Award by the National Press Club. She received numerous honorary degrees and served on the boards of the News Literacy Project and the Committee to Protect Journalists, which renamed its Press Freedom Award in her honor.

The 2016 John Chancellor Award was posthumously awarded to Ifill by the Columbia Journalism School. In 2017, the Washington Press Club Foundation and “PBS NewsHour” created a journalism fellowship named for Ifill. Her alma mater, Simmons University, opened the Gwen Ifill College of Media, Arts, and Humanities in the fall of 2018.

The Gwen Ifill Black Heritage stamp is being issued as a Forever stamp, which will always be equal in value to the current First-Class Mail 1-ounce price.

14591: What’s Going On Your Next Envelope.

The United States Post Office is offering Marvin Gaye forever stamps.

14506: BHM 2019—USPS Taps With Gregory Hines.

The United States Postal Service commemorates Black History Month with Forever Stamps featuring the late Gregory Hines. Leave it to the post office to present Forever Stamps for only 28 days.

14031: BHM 2018—USPS.

The USPS celebrates BHM forever with Lena Horne Forever Stamps.

13538: BHM 2017—USPS.

For Black History Month, the United States Postal Service once again mailed it in with commemorative stamps. Wonder if Dorothy Height beat out Wonder Woman.

13049: BHM 2016—USPS.

For BHM, the United States Postal Service mailed it in with commemorative stamps.

12614: Forever Misquoted.

From The New York Post…

Maya Angelou stamp features misattributed quote

By The Associated Press

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Postal Service issued a new limited edition “Forever” stamp Tuesday, honoring the late poet, author and civil rights champion Maya Angelou, but it carries a quote that apparently originated elsewhere.

Angelou rose from poverty, segregation and violence to become a force on stage, screen and the printed page. She died last May at her Winston-Salem, North Carolina, home at 86.

The stamp dedicated Tuesday at a Washington ceremony showcases Atlanta artist Ross Rossin’s 2013 portrait of Angelou, an oil painting in the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery collection.

The stamp includes the quotation: “A bird doesn’t sing because it has an answer, it sings because it has a song.”

Children’s book author Joan Walsh Anglund told The Washington Post the quotation is in her book of poems “A Cup of Sun,” published in 1967. Anglund, 89, said she didn’t know about the stamp but that she hopes it is successful.

“It’s an interesting connection, and interesting it would happen and already be printed and on her stamp,” Anglund said. “I love her and all she’s done.”

The quote has been attributed to Angelou before. Last year, while presenting the National Medal of the Arts and Humanities, President Barack Obama attributed the quote to Angelou while honoring other artists.

Postal Service spokesman David Partenheimer said Tuesday that the quotation was included because it’s something Angelou referenced frequently.

“Maya Angelou cited this sentence frequently in media interviews and other forums and it provides a connection to her first memoir ‘I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings,'” he said. “The sentence was chosen to accompany her image on the stamp to reflect her passion for the written and spoken word. The sentence held great meaning for her and she is publicly identified with its popularity.”

Ethel Kessler of Bethesda, Maryland, designed the stamp based on Rossin’s portrait, the postal service said.

Angelou was a longtime professor of American studies at Wake Forest University.

12543: BHM 2015—USPS.

United States Postal Service mails it in for Black History Month with a commemorative stamp.

11859: USPS Amazing Bullshit.

If the USPS is in a financial crisis, why is the organization running a pricey promotion with a blockbuster movie?

11322: Goddamn U.S. Postal Service.

From DailyFinance.com…

U.S. Postal Service Withdraws ‘In Priority We Trust’ Ads After Motto Offends

By Eamon Murphy

Idolatry: the substitution of something earthly for the only true object of veneration—God. Forbidden by the Bible, it has remained an irresistible temptation through the ages, as the widespread use of art objects in worship indicates.

Now the United States Postal Service, about as beleaguered an institution as there is, has inadvertently given its signature product the status of an idol, engendering complaints and causing one element of an extensive new marketing campaign to be scrapped.

”In Priority We Trust,” read the signs sent out to post offices across the country, echoing the phrase adopted as official U.S. motto in 1956, but slighting the Almighty by replacing the word “God.” According to the USPS, some people objected. (The postal service did not disclose any specific complaints.) As a result, the ads were withdrawn. Spokesman Tad Kelley explained,

“The ‘In Priority Mail We Trust’ elements were one component of a multi-channel campaign to launch a new sweep of priority products available online and in post offices on July 29. Some customers voiced concerns with the phrase. Being sensitive to their concerns, we directed affected post offices to remove the elements.”

But the USPS can’t escape criticism, as the cash-strapped independent agency of the federal government now faces questions over the expense of the wasted signage.

Might the Postal Service have overreacted in accommodating its customers’ hypersensitivity, and thereby squandered precious resources? “In Priority We Trust” seems harmless enough—effective, even. But it’s hard to blame them for being skittish, given the barrage of criticism they face over finances—losses totaled $16 billion last year—and operational changes (cutting delivery, closing locations).

It’s interesting to note that the phrase “In God We Trust” is an invention of the U.S. government, having entered the national consciousness through the currency. According to the Treasury Department’s website, “Secretary of the Treasury Salmon P. Chase received many appeals from devout persons throughout the country” during the Civil War, a time of “increased religious sentiment”, urging that the U.S. government “recognize the Deity on United States coins.”

“This would relieve us from the ignominy of heathenism,” read one such letter, from a Pennsylvania minister. “This would place us openly under the Divine protection we have personally claimed. From my hearth I have felt our national shame in disowning God as not the least of our present national disasters.

Chase agreed—“No nation can be strong except in the strength of God, or safe except in His defense,” he wrote to the director of the Philadelphia mint; “The trust of our people in God should be declared on our national coins”—but an act of Congress was required to make the change. Among the mottos Chase approved was one of his own devising: “IN GOD WE TRUST.” Congress passed the relevant legislation on April 22, 1864, and the phrase made its debut on the 1864 two-cent coin.

Further acts of Congress extended and standardized its use, and all U.S coins since 1938 bear the inscription. “In God We Trust” got a big promotion in 1956 when it became the country’s official motto, and the following year it began to appear on paper currency. Also under President Eisenhower, “the biggest ceremony of its kind in Postal Office history” accompanied “the introduction of the first stamp with a religious message”: “In God We Trust” arcing above the crown of the Statue of Liberty. (Postage: 8 cents.) Happier times for the nation’s mail.

9718: KFC Stamp-Lickin’ Good.

KFC is running an actual promotion to persuade the U.S. Postal Service to create a commemorative stamp for Colonel Sanders. Wow. Maybe the fast feeder should petition the Social Security Administration to put the old man’s face on food stamps.

9294: Forever Remembering Larry Doby.

From The Root…

Forever Stamp to Commemorate Black All-Star

The Root Recommends: An upcoming stamp that commemorates the life and legacy of one of baseball’s biggest African-American figures.

By Joshua R. Weaver

The U.S. Postal Service plans to release four new Forever Stamps in 2012 to commemorate the lives and legacies of four iconic Major League Baseball all-stars, including the late Larry Doby, who was the second African-American baseball player in the Major League. Doby joined the ranks of the Cleveland Indians in 1947, becoming the first African American to play in the MLB’s American League.

Born in Camden, S.C., Doby started his baseball tenure on the Negro National League’s Newark Eagles. Elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1998, Doby had a career in baseball that spanned more than 50 years and includes a series of African-American firsts.

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.

8948: Pink Slips In The Mail…?

Adweek reported the United States Postal Service is up for review, and it’s not clear if incumbents Campbell-Ewald and Draftfcb will compete to keep their respective creative/direct marketing/media and promotions/retail assignments. It would be fitting for the agencies to receive rejection letters via snail mail—they would not realize they were fired for at least a few years.