Celebrating History One Stamp at a Time

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The women of Malik Melodies Sisterhood, Inc (MMSI) will be participating in a ONE year letter writing campaign designed to petition Dr. John Henrik Clarke on a U.S. Commemorative Postage Stamp.  

Dr. John Henrik Clarke (1915-1998) was the oldest son of an Alabama sharecropper family and rose to prominence as an educator, scholar, activist and historian who was admired worldwide. He has written or authored more than thirty books and articles which have been translated in more than a dozen languages. He was the first president of the African Heritage Studies Association and was a founding member of the Black Academy of Arts and Letters, the African Scholars’ Council and The Association for the Study of Classical African Civilization. He has received over a dozen citations for excellence in teaching and was Professor Emeritus of African World History in the Department of Africana and Puerto Rican Studies at Hunter College.

Beginning in 1940 with a ten-cent stamp honoring Booker T. Washington, the United States Post Office Department began issuing stamps to commemorate the contributions of African Americans.  Based on their Historian's report dated February 2011, the Post Office has issued 138 commemorative stamps.

Why is this campaign important?

MMSI believes:

"A U.S. Postal Stamp to honor Dr. Clarke would be an inspiration to students, educators and scholars throughout the nation. It would also be a fitting tribute to an Army veteran and social activist who devoted his life to protecting the personal and intellectual freedoms of all Americans."

Although accomplishing this objective is no small undertaking, MMSI is committed to making it happen.  They have done the leg work, all we have to do is support them.  They have even prepared a sample letter for us to use.

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I encourage you to visit their website (http://www.malikmelodies.org/#!dr-clarkes-postage-stamp/c1u9o) and lend your support.   

It starts now, let's get this thing done....