USPS press sheet of twenty Emancipation Proclamation Freedom stamps: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

This is a United States Postal Service postage stamp sheet of Emancipation Proclamation Freedom stamps designed by Gail Anderson. There are twenty stamps on the sheet, which constitutes a book of stamps. The book has the word “FREEDOM” on the left side of the sheet. Each individual stamp is covered in text in black and red ink and reads “HENCEFORWARD/ SHALL BE/ FREE/ EMANCIPATION/ PROCLAMATION/ ABRAHAM LINCOLN/ ***1863***/ FOREVER*** USA.” The phrase “Shall be free” and the name “Abraham Lincoln” are in red, the rest of the text is in black ink. The reverse of each book has dense black text that gives historical background about the Emancipation Proclamation.

Materials, dates and provenance

• Date: 2013
• Issued by: United States Postal Service, American, founded 1775
• Designed by: Gail Anderson, American, born 1962
• Subject of: President Abraham Lincoln, American, 1809 - 1865
• Type: postage stamps
• Medium: ink on paper (fiber product) with adhesive
• Dimensions: H x W: 7 × 7 1/2 in. (17.8 × 19.1 cm)
• Place depicted: United States, North and Central America
• Topic: African American
• Topic: Art
• Topic: Design
• Topic: Emancipation
• Topic: Government
• Topic: Graphic design
• Topic: U.S. History, Civil War, 1861-1865
• Object number: 2020.11.39
• Credit Line: Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Gift of Gail Anderson
• Data Source: National Museum of African American History and Culture

Sources and reuse

Catalogue descriptions and facts adapted from National Museum of African American History and Culture through the Smithsonian's official Open Access dataset. This record explicitly marks its metadata CC0 1.0; formatting and selection have been changed. The underlying object's rights statement is: © United States Postal Service Permission required for use. Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.