Latest in U.S. Postal Service Forever stamp features Richard Allen

Preacher, activist and civic leader Richard Allen is the face of the United States Postal Service’s 39th Black Heritage Commemorative Forever stamp which was dedicated earlier this month at a ceremony held in Philadelphia, Pa. at Mother Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church.

Allen is the founder and first bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal Church which is celebrating its 200th anniversary.

“Richard Allen was a man of boundless stature, courage and determination. The Postal Service is pleased to dedicate this special commemorative Forever stamp in his honor,” said Postal Service Vice President of the Eastern Area Operations Joshua D. Colin.

RICHARD ALLEN

“Frederick Douglas and later Martin Luther King Jr., both said that they were influenced by how Bishop Allen seemed to channel a higher power to work through him to shepherd Blacks through some of this country’s darkest days. I hope this stamp will inspire every American to learn more about this uplifting man,” he continued.

After making a name for himself as a traveling minister throughout the Mid-Atlantic, Allen was asked to preach to his fellow African Americans at a Methodist church in Philadelphia. He quickly rose to prominence as a civic leader, co-founding an organization to help African-American neighbors in need, rallying black Philadelphians to serve as aid workers during a yellow fever epidemic in 1793 and preparing the Black community to defend the city during the War of 1812.

Eager to establish an independent African-American church, Allen purchased an old blacksmith’s shop and moved it to land he owned at Sixth and Lombard Streets. Bethel Church was dedicated in 1794 and soon attracted hundreds of members, but Allen spent years in conflict with white church leaders who sought to assert their control. At one point, they tried to sell the building out from under him, but as a successful businessman, Allen was able to buy it back at auction. After a campaign that included sit-ins by African Americans and a judgment by the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, the congregation secured its independence. In 1816, Allen summoned other Black Methodist leaders to Philadelphia, where together they founded the African Methodist Episcopal (A.M.E.) Church, electing and consecrating Allen as its first bishop.

The Postal Service began is Black Heritage Stamp series in 1978. Abolitionist Harriet Tubman graced the inaugural stamp.

Other African Americans honored in the Black Heritage stamp series include Martin Luther King, Jr., Benjamin Banneker, Dr. Carter G. Woodson, Mary McLeod Bethune, Langston Hughes, Thurgood Marshall, Paul Robeson, Marian Anderson, Hattie McDaniel, Ella Fitzgerald, John H. Johnson, Barbara Jordan and Shirley Chisholm.

This article originally published in the February 8, 2016 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.