USPS press sheet of twenty Emancipation Proclamation Freedom stamps

Source catalog description

This description refers to material held by Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture. Visual details below describe the original material.

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.

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