The history of women on US stamps begins in 1893, when Queen Isabella became the first woman on a US stamp. Queen Isabella helped support Christopher Columbus's 1492 voyage, and 1893 marked the end of a year-long celebration of the 400th anniversary of that voyage. The first US stamp honoring an American woman honored Martha Washington, and it was issued in 1902. In 1907, Pocahontas became the first Native American woman (and the first Native American) to be honored on a US stamp. In 1978, Harriet Tubman became the first African-American woman to be honored on a US stamp. In 2001, Frida Kahlo became the first Hispanic woman to be honored on a US stamp, though she was Mexican not American.
Groups of women have also been honored on US stamps, for example Gold Star Mothers (1948) and "Women In Our Armed Services" (1952).
There are also generic, unnamed women who appear on US stamps, such as a woman marching with men for the National Recovery Act (1933).
US stamps have also depicted female goddesses and allegories, such as personifications of liberty.
Approval process
Since 1957, the Citizens’ Stamp Advisory Committee (CSAC) has worked as the sole group responsible for selecting and recommending subjects to be featured on U.S. stamps. Members of the committee are appointed by the Postmaster General. There are 11 members on the committee, currently three women and 8 men.
Forever Stamps
First sold in April 2007, Forever Stamps can be used to mail a one-ounce letter regardless of when the stamps are purchased or used and no matter how prices may change in the future. In 2011, all first-class, one ounce stamps became Forever Stamps and all commemorative stamps began being issued as Forever Stamps.
Categorization of Stamps
The U.S. Postal Service classifies many stamps featuring groups, artwork, works of literature, and social efforts and awareness campaigns as "women stamps". Among these groups are the artwork of Mary Cassatt (featured five times), the Nursing stamp, and the Breast Cancer Awareness Month stamp.
List of women on US stamps
 | This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (November 2016) |
This list can be expanded with women stamps from here or here.
| Women | Year | Notable for |
|---|---|---|
| Isabella I of Castile | 1893 | Queen Isabella appeared with Christopher Columbus on a 4-dollar stamp. Her portrait is the first portrait of a woman to appear on a US postage stamp. |
| Martha Washington | 1902, 1923, 1938 | First First Lady of the United States |
| Pocahontas | 1907 | Pocahontas was a Native American woman and a member of the Native American group Powhatans. She was an intermediary between the Native Americans and the nearby English colonists. She was taken captive by colonists, which culminated in 150 armed colonists going to Powhatan to demand ransom, burn down villages, and kill Native American men. Issued as a part of the Jamestown Exposition Issue. |
| Molly Pitcher | 1928 | The nickname of a woman, whose identity is not definitively known, who is said to have fought in the American Revolutionary War |
| Susan B. Anthony | 1936, 1955 | American feminist, social reformer, and civil rights activist |
| Virginia Dare | 1937 | First European child born on American soil |
| Louisa May Alcott | 1940 | American author, best known for writing Little Women and Little Men |
| Frances Willard | 1940 | American educator, reformer, lecturer, and women's suffrage supporter |
| Jane Addams | 1940 | American social worker and reformer, the founder of Hull House in Chicago, a social welfare center |
| Clara Barton | 1948, 1995 | Founder of the American Red Cross |
| Juliette Gordon Low | 1948 | Founder of the Girl Scouts of the USA |
| Moina Michael | 1948 | Initiated the Veterans of Foreign Wars fundraising drive selling red poppies in 1915 |
| Betsy Ross | 1952 | American upholsterer credited with creating the first official flag of the United States |
| Sacagawea | 1954, 1994 | Shoshone guide who assisted the Lewis and Clark Expedition of 1804 |
| Amelia Earhart | 1963 | American pilot, first woman to fly solo nonstop across the Atlantic Ocean |
| Eleanor Roosevelt | 1963, 1984, 1998 | American diplomat, writer, social reformer, and First Lady of the United States |
| Mary Cassatt | 1966, 1988, 1998 | American painter best known for her works of mothers and children |
| Lucy Stone | 1968 | Nineteenth century abolitionist and women's rights leader |
| Grandma Moses | 1969 | American painter who took up painting at the age of 76 |
| Emily Dickinson | 1971 | American poet who wrote more than 1,700 poems |
| Willa Cather | 1973 | American novelist |
| Elizabeth Blackwell | 1973 | American physician, the first female physician in the U.S. |
| Sybil Ludington | 1975 | American-born heroine of the American Revolutionary War |
| Clara Maass | 1976 | American nurse best known for having died as a volunteer for yellow fever medical experiments |
| Harriet Tubman | 1978, 1995 | American abolitionist and social activist who was part of the Underground Railroad |
| Emily Bissell | 1980 | American social worker and activist best known for introducing Christmas Seals to the United States |
| Helen Keller | 1980 | American author and disability rights advocate |
| Anne Sullivan | 1980 | American teacher best known for being the instructor and lifelong companion of Helen Keller |
| Dolley Madison | 1980 | First Lady of the United States |
| Frances Perkins | 1980 | American workers-rights advocate and fourth United States Secretary of Labor, the first female to hold a cabinet-level position in the United States government |
| Edith Wharton | 1980 | American novelist best known for her novels Ethan Frome and The Age of Innocence |
| Rachel Carson | 1981 | American marine biologist, writer, and conservationist, best known for writing Silent Spring in advance of the environmental movement |
| Edna St. Vincent Millay | 1981 | American poet |
| Babe Didrikson Zaharias | 1981 | American multi-sport athlete |
| Mary Walker | 1982 | American abolitionist, prohibitionist, prisoner of war, and surgeon, the only woman to receive the Medal of Honor |
| Dorothea Dix | 1983 | American advocate for the indigent mentally ill |
| Pearl S. Buck | 1983 | American writer and novelist, best known for the novel, The Good Earth |
| Lillian Moller Gilbreth | 1984 | American psychologist and industrial engineer, a pioneer in the field of time-and-motion studies |
| Abigail Adams | 1985 | First Lady of the United States |
| Mary McLeod Bethune | 1985 | American educator, social activist, and founder of the Daytona Educational and Industrial Training School for Negro Girls, now known as Bethune-Cookman College |
| Belva Ann Lockwood | 1986 | American politician, the first female candidate for President of the United States |
| Margaret Mitchell | 1986 | American novelist and journalist, best known for the novel Gone with the Wind |
| Sojourner Truth | 1986 | Born Isabella Baumfree, she was the first black woman to speak publicly against slavery. |
| Julia Ward Howe | 1987 | Composer of "The Battle Hymn of the Republic". |
| Mary Lyon | 1987 | Education pioneer who founded Mount Holyoke College. |
| Evelyn Nesbit | 1989 | American chorus girl, artists' model, actress and controversial historical figure. |
| Helene Madison | 1990 | A gold medalist in the 1932 Olympic Games in swimming. |
| Marianne Moore | 1990 | Poet who won the Pulitzer Prize in 1951 for her Collected Poems. |
| Ida B. Wells | 1990 | Civil rights activist who cofounded the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. |
| Hazel Hotchkiss Wightman | 1990 | Olympic gold medalist credited with doing more to build American and international women's tennis than any other player. |
| Fanny Brice | 1991 | Singer and comedian who created the "Baby Snooks" radio character. |
| Harriet Quimby | 1991 | First American woman pilot to fly the English Channel. |
| Dorothy Parker | 1992 | Poet and short story writer |
| Patsy Cline | 1993 | Popular American country singer |
| Sara Carter and Maybelle Carter of the Carter Family | 1993 | Pioneers of American country music |
| Grace Kelly | 1993 | American film actress |
| Dinah Washington | 1993 | "Queen of the Blues" |
| Clara Bow | 1994 | Silent film actress |
| ZaSu Pitts | 1994 | Silent film actress |
| Theda Bara | 1994 | Silent film actresse |
| Nellie Cashman | 1994 | The "Angel of Tombstone", an anti-violence advocate who raised orphans and campaigned against public hanging |
| Ethel Waters | 1994 | American jazz, swing, and pop singer and actress |
| Bessie Smith | 1994 | American blues singer |
| Billie Holiday | 1994 | American jazz and swing singer |
| Mildred Bailey | 1994 | Native American jazz singer |
| Ethel Merman | 1994 | American actress and singer of musical comedy |
| Annie Oakley | 1994 | American sharpshooter |
| Virginia Apgar | 1994 | Doctor who developed a newborn assessment method |
| Ruth Benedict | 1995 | American anthropologist |
| Mary Boykin Chesnut | 1995 | American Civil War author |
| Phoebe Pember | 1995 | American nurse and hospital administrator for Confederate States military hospital |
| Bessie Coleman | 1995 | First woman to earn an international pilot's license |
| Alice Hamilton | 1995 | Pioneer in industrial medicine |
| Marilyn Monroe | 1995 | American film actor |
| Alice Paul | 1995 | Founder of National Women's Party and author of the Equal Rights Amendment |
| Jacqueline Cochran | 1996 | Pioneer pilot who had more than 200 aviation records, firsts, and awards. She was the first woman to break the sound barrier |
| Georgia O'Keeffe | 1996, 2013 | American-born abstract painter |
| Dorothy Fields | 1996 | Popular songwriter of the 1920s and 1930s. She wrote the words for "On the Sunny Side of the Street" |
| Lily Pons | 1997 | French-American operatic soprano and actress |
| Rosa Ponselle | 1997 | American operatic soprano |
| Women in the military | 1997 | This stamp honored the nearly 2 million women have served and are serving in the U.S. armed forces |
| Mary Breckinridge | 1998 | Founder of the Frontier Nursing Service |
| Mahalia Jackson | 1998 | American gospel singer |
| Roberta Martin | 1998 | American gospel composer, singer, pianist, arranger, and choral organizer |
| Sister Rosetta Tharpe | 1998 | American singer and guitarist |
| Clara Ward | 1998 | American gospel singers |
| Margaret Mead | 1998 | Famous anthropologist who studied child rearing, personality, and culture, mainly in the South Pacific |
| Madam C. J. Walker | 1998 | African American who became one of the wealthiest women in the 1910s by developing and selling hair care products |
| Ayn Rand | 1999 | Author of the novels The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged |
| Patricia Roberts Harris | 2000 | Lawyer and political adviser; in 1977 she became the first African American woman named to a presidential cabinet |
| Louise Nevelson | 2000 | Twentieth-century American sculptor who worked with wood, metals, and found objects |
| Hattie Wyatt Caraway | 2001 | First woman elected to U.S. Senate |
| Rose O'Neill | 2001 | American illustrator |
| Lucille Ball | 1999, 2001, 2009 | American comedian and actress |
| Frida Kahlo | 2001 | Mexican artist |
| Nellie Bly | 2002 | American journalist best known for her 72-day trip around the globe |
| Marguerite Higgins | 2002 | American reporter and war correspondent |
| Ethel L. Payne | 2002 | American journalist, editor, and foreign correspondent |
| Ida Tarbell | 2002 | American writer, journalist, and lecturer, famous as a muckraking reporter of the late 19th and early 20th centuries |
| Zora Neale Hurston | 2003 | African American novelist in the Harlem Renaissance |
| Audrey Hepburn | 2003 | Film actress and goodwill ambassador for UNICEF |
| Mary Cassatt | 1988, 2003 | American artist known for her portraits of motherhood |
| Agnes Lee and her daughter Peggy | 2002 | American author and, with her daughter, the subject of a photograph by American photographer Gertrude Käsebier featured on a US postage stamp |
| Florence Owens Thompson | 1998 | American depression-era woman who was the subject of a photograph by American photographer Dorothea Lange entitled "Migrant Mother" which was featured on a US postage stamp |
| Ida Pabst | 2002 | Daughter-in-law of Frederick Pabst (the German-American brewer for whom Pabst Brewing Company was named) and the subject of a portrait by American photographer Imogen Cunningham which was featured on a US postage stamp |
| Agnes de Mille | 2004 | American dancer and choreographer |
| Martha Graham | 2004 | American modern dancer and choreographer |
| Wilma Rudolph | 2004 | Track and field star |
| Marian Anderson | 2005 | Opera singer who was the first African-American to sing at the Metropolitan Opera |
| Greta Garbo | 2005 | Actress of the silver screen |
| Hattie McDaniel | 2006 | Singer and actress who was the first African-American to win an Oscar |
| Frances E. Willis | 2006 | Diplomat |
| Judy Garland | 2006 | Actress and singer, star of The Wizard of Oz |
| Ella Fitzgerald | 2007 | Jazz singer |
| Gerty Cori | 2008 | Biochemist |
| Maria Goeppert Mayer | 2008 | Nuclear physicist |
| Bette Davis | 2008 | American actress |
| Martha Gellhorn | 2008 | Journalist who covered the Spanish Civil War, World War II, and the Vietnam War |
| Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings | 2008 | Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Yearling |
| Mary Church Terrell | 2009 | Civil rights and women's rights activist |
| Mary White Ovington | 2009 | Civil rights activist |
| Daisy Bates | 2009 | Civil rights activist |
| Fannie Lou Hamer | 2009 | Civil rights activist |
| Ella Baker | 2009 | Civil rights activist |
| Ruby Hurley | 2009 | Civil rights activist |
| Mary Lasker | 2009 | Health activist and philanthropist |
| Anna J. Cooper | 2009 | African-American scholar |
| Vivian Vance | 2009 | American actress and singer |
| Dinah Shore | 2009 | American singer, actress, and television personality |
| Fran Allison | 2009 | American comedian, singer, and TV and radio personality |
| Gracie Allen | 2009 | American vaudevillian, singer, actress, and comedian |
| Harriet Nelson | 2009 | American singer and actress |
| Katharine Hepburn | 2010 | American actress |
| Kate Smith | 2010 | American contralto singer |
| Mother Teresa | 2010 | Albanian-born Indian Catholic nun canonized as a Catholic saint in 2016, best known for her life devoted to charitable work |
| Julia de Burgos | 2010 | Puerto Rican pro-independence poet |
| Carmen Miranda | 2011 | Portuguese-born Brazilian-American samba singer, dancer, and actress |
| Selena | 2011 | American Tejano singer |
| Celia Cruz | 2011 | Cuban-American singer |
| Oveta Culp Hobby | 2011 | First secretary of the US Department of Health, Education and Welfare, first commanding officer of the Women's Army Corps |
| Helen Hayes | 2011 | American actress |
| Maria Goeppert Mayer | 2011 | German-born American theoretical physicist |
| Greta von Nessen | 2011 | Swedish-born American industrial designer |
| Barbara Jordan | 2011 | American politician and a leader of the Civil Rights Movement |
| Elizabeth Bishop | 2012 | American poet and short-story author |
| Gwendolyn Brooks | 2012 | American poet, author, and teacher |
| Denise Levertov | 2012 | British-born American poet |
| Sylvia Plath | 2012 | American poet and author |
| Édith Piaf | 2012 | French singer |
| Isadora Duncan | 2012 | American dancer and choreographer |
| Katherine Dunham | 2012 | American dancer and choreographer |
| Lady Bird Johnson | 2012 | First Lady of the United States |
| Rosa Parks | 2013 | Civil rights activist |
| Lydia Mendoza | 2013 | Latin music legend |
| Althea Gibson | 2013 | Tennis player |
| Shirley Chisholm | 2014 | Politician - first African-American woman elected to the U.S. Congress |
| Janis Joplin | 2014 | Singer and songwriter |
| Julia Child | 2014 | Chef, author, television personality |
| Joyce Chen | 2014 | Chef, author, television personality |
| Edna Lewis | 2014 | Chef, author |
| Maya Angelou | 2015 | Poet, author and civil rights activist |
| Flannery O'Connor | 2015 | Writer |
| Ingrid Bergman | 2015 | Actress |
| Sarah Vaughan | 2016 | Singer |
| Shirley Temple | 2016 | Actress, later businesswoman and diplomat |
| Dorothy Height | 2017 | Civil rights and women's rights activist |
| Lena Horne | 2018 | Singer, dancer, actress and civil rights activist |
| Sally Ride | 2018 | Astronaut, engineer, physicist |
| Gwen Ifill | 2020 | Journalist; first African-American woman to host a major political talk show: PBS's "Washington Week in Review" in 1999 |
| Chien-Shiung Wu | 2021 | Nuclear physicist |
| Edmonia Lewis | 2022 | Sculptor; first African-American and Native American sculptor to earn international recognition |
| Eugenie Clark | 2022 | American ichthyologist |
| Nancy Reagan | 2022 | First Lady of the United States |
| Anna McNeill Whistler | 1934 | Mother of American-born painter James Abbott McNeill Whistler |
| Blanche Scott | 1980 | Inventor and pioneering aviator |
| Ethel Barrymore | 1982 | American film actress |
| Lila Acheson Wallace | 1998 | American magazine publisher and philanthropist; co-founder of Reader's Digest |
| Lynn Fontanne | 1999 | English actress |
| Neysa McMein | 2001 | American illustrator and portrait painter |
| Enda Ferber | 2002 | American author of novels, short stories, and plays |
| Barbara McClintock | 2005 | American genetecist |
| Katherine Anne Porter | 2006 | American author and journalist |
| Margaret Chase Smith | 2007 | American Congresswoman and Senator from Maine, the first woman to serve in both houses of the US Congress |
| Harriet Beecher Stowe | 2007 | American author and abolitionist, best known for writing Uncle Tom's Cabin |
| Freda Josephine Baker | 2008 | Josephine Baker was an African American dancer, activist, and spy during World War II. She succeeded as a dancer in Vaudeville shows in the United States and participated in the Harlem Renaissance. She eventually moved to Paris, where she became a widely sought-after performer. Her performances used African themes and styles. During World War II, she helped the French military by passing on secrets she learned while performing. |
| Women Cryptologists of World War II | 2022 | Honoring the around 11,000 women cryptologists of World War II who helped decipher enemy military messages. |
| Women's Soccer | 2023 | Celebrating women's soccer in the United States, from youth leagues to the world champion U.S. national team. |
| Toni Morrison | 2023 | Celebrated on a forever stamp, Toni Morrison was an award-winning author of 11 novels that brought to life the diverse voices of Black people and, in particular, centered the identity of Black women. |
| Constance Baker Motley | 2024 | The first African American woman to argue a case before the U.S. Supreme Court and the first to serve as a federal judge. A master legal tactician, Motley played a key role in knocking down legal segregation. |
| Harriet Tubman | 2024 | Part of the Underground Railroad series, another forever stamp honors Harriet Tubman. |
| Harriet Jacobs | 2024 | An American abolitionist and autobiographer who crafted her own experiences into her autobiography, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, Written by Herself (1861). Part of the Underground Railroad series. |
| Catherine White Coffin | 2024 | An American Quaker abolitionist and the wife of Levi Coffin, the unofficial "President of the Underground Railroad". Part of the Underground Railroad series. |
| Laura Haviland | 2024 | An American Quaker abolitionist, suffragette, and social reformer. Part of the Underground Railroad series. |
| Betty Ford | 2024 | First lady of the United States from 1974 to 1977. She was noted for raising breast cancer awareness and being a passionate supporter of the Equal Rights Amendment. |
Sources:
References
- "Support of Queen Isabella". postalmuseum.si.edu. Retrieved 2024-06-18.
- "Martha Washington". postalmuseum.si.edu. Retrieved 2024-06-18.
- ^ "Leaving Their Stamp on History".
- Edwards, John. Ferdinand and Isabella. Pearson Education Limited, 2005, p. 119
- "Martha Washington".
- "Women Who Left Their Stamp On U.S. Philatelic History". Mode.
- "Postage Stamps - Postal Facts".
- United States Postal Service. "Publication 354 - African Americans on Stamps".
- Klein, Adam G. (2005). Frida Kahlo. Edina, Minn.: ABDO Pub. Co. ISBN 9781596797314. Retrieved 8 July 2013.
- "'Love' stamp a highlight of 2001". LJWorld.com.
- "Leaving Their Stamp on History".
- "Leaving Their Stamp on History".
- ^ "The First Fifty Women on United States Stamps" (PDF). American Philatelic Society. 2009. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2018-08-26. Retrieved 2016-05-10.
- "Citizens' Stamp Advisory Committee - Who we are - About.usps.com". about.usps.com. Retrieved 2024-06-18.
- ^ "Women Subjects on United States Postage Stamps" (PDF). United States Postal Service. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2022-03-19.
- ^ "Women Subjects on United States Postage Stamps". United States Postal Service. July 2024.
- "Support of Queen Isabella". postalmuseum.si.edu. Retrieved 2024-06-18.
- "Pocahontas". National Women's History Museum. Retrieved 2024-06-18.
- "Jamestown Exposition Issue". postalmuseum.si.edu. Retrieved 2024-06-18.
- Elassar, Alaa (2020-02-01). "Gwen Ifill: US Postal Service honors pioneering journalist with Black Heritage Forever stamp". CNN. Retrieved 2022-07-14.
- "Edmonia Lewis Stamps". United States Postal Service.
- "Biography: Josephine Baker". National Women's History Museum. Retrieved 2024-06-18.
- "Women Cryptologists of WWII Stamps | USPS.com". store.usps.com. Retrieved 2024-06-18.
- "Women's Soccer Stamps | USPS.com". store.usps.com. Retrieved 2024-06-18.
- "Postal Service Celebrates Author Toni Morrison on New Forever Stamp - Newsroom - About.usps.com". about.usps.com. Retrieved 2024-06-18.
- "Landmark Lawmaker Lauded: Constance Baker Motley Graces USPS Black Heritage Stamp". about.usps.com. Retrieved 2024-09-11.
- "U.S. Postal Service Remembers Shining Beacons of the Underground Railroad on New Forever Stamps". about.usps.com. Retrieved 2024-09-11.
- "Harriet Jacobs". Britannica.com. Retrieved 2024-09-11.
- "U.S. Postal Service Remembers Shining Beacons of the Underground Railroad on New Forever Stamps". about.usps.com. Retrieved 2024-09-11.
- "Levi Coffin, Underground Railroad Ambassador". African American Registry. Retrieved 2023-09-17.
- "U.S. Postal Service Remembers Shining Beacons of the Underground Railroad on New Forever Stamps". about.usps.com. Retrieved 2024-09-11.
- "U.S. Postal Service Remembers Shining Beacons of the Underground Railroad on New Forever Stamps". about.usps.com. Retrieved 2024-09-11.
- "Elizabeth Anne Bloomer Ford". whitehouse.gov. Retrieved 2024-09-11.
- "Women Who Left Their Stamps on History". factmonster.com.
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