Malcolm X Postal Stamp Makes Debut

A new U.S. Postal Service stamp featuring Malcolm X made its West Coast debut Wednesday.

The stamp, unveiled at the Fletcher Bowron Plaza in downtown, is the 22nd in the Postal Service’s black heritage series, said Larry Dozier, spokesman for the U.S. Postal Service. More than 100 million adhesive 33-cent stamps were printed.

The unveiling ceremony featured dancers and gospel hymns sung by the Dublin Avenue Elementary School choir. More than 2,000 stamps were sold in less than an hour from two postal booths at the ceremony, Dozier said. The stamp was officially unveiled in New York last week and is available nationwide.

“This is a stamp of a man who was considered as too militant, a pariah who was despised for his ideas,” Dozier said. “But his determination to win equality for all people was a worthy and just cause. It’s important to hold this man as a symbol of that.”

Malcolm X was a civil rights leader during the 1950s and 1960s. He was assassinated Feb. 21, 1965, at the Audubon Ballroom in New York.

Others featured in the black heritage stamp series in years past include Martin Luther King Jr., Harriet Tubman and George Washington Carver.

More heritage ceremonies will be held at the African American Museum, the Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Shopping Center and other locations in February.