On 24 January, 2001, the U.S. Postal Service added another collectible postage stamp to its Black Heritage commemorative stamps series with their dedication of the 34-cent Roy Wilkins stamp. Wilkins, a civil rights leader, appears on the 24th stamp in the popular Black Heritage stamp series.

The Life of Roy Wilkins

According to Britannica.com, Roy Wilkins was born on 30 August, 1901 in St. Louis, Missouri.

Wilkins graduated from the University of Minnesota in 1923 and became a reporter at the Kansas City Call, a newspaper for African-Americans.

In 1931 Wilkins joined the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), where he soon became editor of the NAACP's official publication known as The Crisis.

In the 1950s, Wilkins served as the highest-ranking administrator in the NAACP, a position from which he helped organize the Civil Rights March on Washington in 1963. Wilkins was dedicated to racial integration through non-violent means, which often placed him at odds with many of the Civil Rights groups of the 1960s. Wilkins was eventually appointed to the position of executive director of the NAACP, a position he held for 12 years before retiring in 1977.

Roy Wilkins died on 8 September, 1981 in New York City.

USPS Roy Wilkins Black Heritage Stamp

As seen in USA Philatelic: Beyond the Perf, Issue 016, with the Roy Wilkins stamp, the USPS continued its drastic and ultimately unpopular change in the design of their Black Heritage stamps. All previous designs used illustrations, paintings, or engravings to depict their subjects - the Wilkins stamp used a photograph taken by Morgan and Marvin Smith. The USPS continued the use of photographs on the Black Heritage stamps until the Marian Anderson stamp in 2005.