The late journalist Gwen Ifill is being memorialized on a new U.S. Postal Service Forever stamp. On Thursday, USPS announced that the Afro-Latina trailblazer, who died of cancer at the age of 61 in 2016, will be the 43rd stamp in the Black Heritage series.
“Gwen Ifill was a remarkable trailblazer who broke through gender and racial barriers,” Deputy Postmaster General Ronald A. Stroman said during a dedication ceremony at the Metropolitan African Methodist Episcopal Church in Washington, DC. “The Postal Service is proud to celebrate Gwen’s contribution as a remarkable journalist with this beautiful commemorative Forever stamp. Gwen was truly a national treasure, and so richly deserving of today’s honor.”
The stamp features a photo of Ifill, a barrier-breaking newscaster most known for co-anchoring PBS NewsHour, taken by photographer Robert Severi in 2008.
In 1999, the New York-born journalist of Panamanian and Barbadian descent, made history as the first Black woman to host a national political talk show on television when she became the moderator of the PBS program Washington Week in Review. In addition to her historic career in broadcast journalism, she worked for esteemed publications like The New York Times and The Washington Post and authored the book The Breakthrough: Politics and Race in the Age of Obama on January 20, 2009.
As a pioneer and great talent, Allison Davis, one of the founders of the National Association of Black Journalists, told NPR news that while she is celebrating the tribute she also resents that a gesture to commemorate Ifill on a national level can only be made during Black History Month.
“She’s historical, and she should be honored all the months of the year. Because that’s the incredible legacy she leaves,” Davis said.
You can purchase the stamps through the Postal Store’s website, by calling 800-STAMP24 or at Post Office locations nationwide.