‘Little Rock Nine’ stamp due out in August

Received by Newsfinder from APApr 16, 2005 14:55 Eastern Time * Photo Advisory Pursuing LITTLE ROCK (AP) _ Commemorating a historic moment in the country’s race relations, the U.S. Postal Service will issue a “1957 Little Rock Nine” stamp this summer. The stamp will be part of the Postal Service series _ To Form a More Union _ which commemorates nine other civil rights milestones. The Little Rock Nine stamp becomes available with a ceremony at Little Rock Central High School on Aug. 30. The school became internationally known Sept. 2, 1957, when Gov. Orval Faubus sent Arkansas National Guardsmen there “to maintain … the peace and good order of the community” and directed the Guard to prevent nine black students from entering the all-white school. President Dwight Eisenhower later federalized the National Guard and sent the 101st Airborne Division Troops to the school to enforce court-ordered school integration. The black students attended school the rest of the year under federal protection. Although the series of stamps will be available at post offices across the country, Little Rock postal officials will offer a special cancellation on the day of issuance and for 30 days afterward. Stamp collectors, historians and those connected to commemorative stamps often seek the cancellation, which adds to the collector value of the stamp, said Leisa Tolliver-Gay, a customer relations coordinator for the Postal Service in Arkansas. “Its unique,” Tolliver-Gay said of the cancellation. “It will say something pertinent to that day.” The Little Rock Nine stamp is based on George Hunt’s 1997 “America Cares” painting. It depicts nine children, a soldier, and another adult who represents the black students’ mentor, Daisy Bates, and the parents and other adults who worked behind the scenes. The original painting is at the Arkansas Arts Center. It hung in the White House several years when Arkansas native Bill Clinton was president. ___ Caption for picture:The “1957 Little Rock Nine” stamp is shown Saturday, April 16, 2005, in Little Rock, Ark. Commemorating a historic moment in the country’s race relations, the U.S. Postal Service will issue a 1957 Little Rock Nine stamp this summer. The stamp will be part of the Postal Service series _ To Form a More Union _ which commemorates nine other civil rights milestones. The Little Rock Nine stamp becomes available with a ceremony at Little Rock Central High School on Aug. 30. (AP Photo/Arkansas Democrat-Gazette)