Announced by the USPS on October 24, 2022.
Author Toni Morrison (1931-2019) is honored in this stamp issuance. Her artfully crafted novels explored the diverse voices and multifaceted experiences of African Americans. Known for such books as “The Bluest Eye,” “Song of Solomon” and “Beloved,” Morrison was the rare author who achieved both bestseller status and critical success. In 1993, she made history as the first African American woman to win the Nobel Prize for Literature. The stamp features a photograph of Morrison taken in 2000. Art director Ethel Kessler designed the stamp with photography by Deborah Feingold.
New information will appear below the line, with the most recent at the top.
Updated April 3rd:
The Scott catalogue number for this issue is 5757.
Updated February 8th:
[ceremony details] [click on any of the pictures for larger versions]
U.S. Postal Service to Issue Toni Morrison Forever Stamp
What: The U.S. Postal Service will honor author Toni Morrison with a Forever stamp. Known for such books as “The Bluest Eye,” “Song of Solomon” and “Beloved,” Morrison was the rare author who achieved both bestseller status and critical success.
The stamp features a photo of Morrison taken in 2000.
The first-day-of-issue event for the Toni Morrison Forever stamp is free and open to the public. News of the stamp is being shared with the hashtag #ToniMorrisonStamp.
Who: Pritha Mehra, USPS chief information officer and executive vice president
When: Tuesday, March 7, 2023, at 11 a.m. EST
Where: Princeton University
38 Nassau St.
Princeton, NJ 08544
RSVP: For additional information about the ceremony location and parking on campus, dedication ceremony attendees are encouraged to RSVP at:
usps.com/tonimorrison
Background: Eager to write the sort of novels she had always wanted to find on bookshelves, Toni Morrison (1931-2019) explored the diverse voices and multifaceted experiences of African Americans.
Morrison published her first novel, “The Bluest Eye,” in 1970. An important inquiry into the life of an 11-year-old African American girl struggling with the internalization of negative racial stereotypes, the book remains a canonical novel about society’s neglect and mistreatment of African American girls.
Morrison did not shy away from difficult subjects. Her 1977 national bestseller, “Song of Solomon,” examined the many ways that the African American search for identity, both individually and collectively, is complicated by the legacy of slavery. In 1987, Morrison won the Pulitzer Prize for “Beloved,” a harrowing rumination on trauma and the lingering, even haunting nature of the past. “Beloved” firmly secured Morrison’s reputation as a great American writer and made her the rare author to achieve both bestseller status and critical success.
In 1989, Morrison became the Robert F. Goheen Professor in the Humanities at Princeton University. In 1993, she was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, becoming the first African American woman to receive the distinction.
In later novels, Morrison further explored wide-ranging questions about the effects of social change on families and communities, skin-color prejudice among African Americans, and the lingering impact of violence and abuse. As she continued to experiment with language and push the possibilities of narrative, she never wavered from her purpose: bringing attention to important stories that had too long gone untold.
Art director Ethel Kessler designed this stamp with a photograph by Deborah Feingold.
The Toni Morrison stamp is being issued as a Forever stamp. It will always be equal in value to the current First-Class Mail 1-ounce price.
Updated January 29th:
Here are the first-day postmarks for this issue:
The Digital Color Postmark measures 2.48″x1.05″ 
The Pictorial Postmark measures 2.56″x1.06″
Updated January 28th:
Princeton University “will explore Toni Morrison’s creative process with an abundance of exhibitions and events” beginning February 22nd and running through the spring. Details are here. The stamp issuance is mentioned, without details.
From the Postal Bulletin:
On March 7, 2023, in Princeton, NJ, the United States Postal Service® will issue the Toni Morrison stamp (Forever® priced at the First-Class Mail rate) in one design, in a pressure-sensitive adhesive (PSA) pane of 20 stamps (Item 483100). This stamp will go on sale nation-wide March 7, 2023, and must not be sold or canceled before the first-day-of-issue.
This stamp celebrates Toni Morrison (1931–2019), whose artfully crafted novels explored the diverse voices and multi-faceted experiences of African Americans. Known for such books as The Bluest Eye, Song of Solomon, and Beloved, Morrison was the rare author who achieved both bestseller status and critical success. In 1993, she made history as the first African-American woman to win the Nobel Prize in Literature. The stamp features a photograph of Morrison taken in 2000. Art director Ethel Kessler designed the stamp with photography by Deborah Feingold.
Item 483100, Pane of 20 Stamps. No automatic distribution
How to Order the First-Day-of-Issue Postmark:
Customers have 120 days to obtain the first-day-of-issue postmark by mail. They may purchase new stamps at their local Post Office™ or at The Postal Store® website at store.usps.com/store/home. They must affix the stamps to envelopes of their choice, address the envelopes (to themselves or others), and place them in a larger envelope address to:
FDOI – Toni Morrison Stamp
USPS Stamp Fulfillment Services
8300 NE Underground Drive, Suite 300
Kansas City, MO 64144-9900
After applying the first-day-of-issue postmark, the Postal Service will return the envelopes through the mail. There is no charge for the postmark up to a quantity of 50. There is a 5-cent charge for each additional postmark over 50. All orders must be postmarked by July 1, 2023.
Technical Specifications:
Issue: Toni Morrison Stamp
Item Number: 483100
Denomination & Type of Issue: First-Class Mail Forever
Format: Pane of 20 (1 design)
Series: N/A
Issue Date & City: March 7, 2023, Princeton, NJ, 08540
Art Director: Ethel Kessler, Bethesda, MD
Designer: Ethel Kessler, Bethesda, MD
Existing Photo: Deborah Feingold
Modeler: Sandra Lane / Michelle Finn
Manufacturing Process: Offset, Microprint
Printer: Banknote Corporation of America
Press Type: Gallus RCS
Stamps per Pane: 20
Print Quantity: 30,000,000 stamps
Paper Type: Phosphor Tagged Paper, Block
Adhesive Type: Pressure-sensitive
Colors: Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Black
Stamp Orientation: Square
Image Area (w x h): 1.085 x 1.085 in / 27.559 x 27.559 mm
Overall Size (w x h): 1.225 x 1.225 in / 31.115 x 31.115 mm
Full Pane Size (w x h): 5.90 x 7.12 in / 149.86 x 180.848 mm
Press Sheets Size (w x h): 11.80 x 21.36 in / 299.72 x 542.544 mm
Plate Size: 120 stamps per revolution
Plate Number: “B” followed by four (4) single digits
Marginal Markings:
Front: Plate number in four corners of pane
Back: ©2022 USPS • USPS logo • Two barcodes (483100) • Plate position diagram (6) • Promotional text
Updated January 10th:
This stamp will be issued March 7 in Princeton, NJ. According to Wikipedia, “from 1989 until her retirement in 2006, Morrison held the Robert F. Goheen Chair in the Humanities at Princeton University.”
Why is she not a part of Literary Arts series? Unless, someone else will be honored in that category?
You are probably right. Another reason might be that the Literary Arts series are three-ounce stamps that get little use and be stocked by few post offices, and CSAC-Stamp Services wanted this stamp to be as available and used as possible.
Yes, which they became since 2014. My other thought was that it will be a part of the Music Icons series, due to the square shape of a stamp. The only square non music related stamps that I remember were Robert F. Kennedy from 1979 and FDR from 1982.
I think it’s another Maya Angelou case. That’s when they issued a stamp dedicated to an author but decided to put Flanary O’Connor for 3-ounce rate.
Or why not part of the Black Heritage series?
Seems like a certain race is getting extra postage stamp face time.
Because Black Heritage was already released with Ernest J. Gaines.
USPS assumes that African Americans will flood their offices. They will – as workers. Not many care about stamps. I think I met a few who do in my state of Minnesota. 3 there, 3 here doesn’t make a sustainable number to be honest.
I was thinking the same of John Lewis. I too was expecting John Lewis to be a part of Black Heritage or Great American series. The later had a huge gap between 2017 and 2022.
Will see whom they will decorate with Music Icons and Literary Arts series this coming year. Something tells me it will be William Wells Brown…
I think the USPS thinks John Lewis and Toni Morrison are enough of a “draw” that they don’t need to be part of the series. How many white stamp collectors do you run into in Minnesota (or anywhere else)? There is a solid organization for African-American collectors (or those interested in the subject), ESPER. I’m not sure about viable philatelic groups for other minority groups for whom stamps of interest have been issued. Finally, a major “audience” for Black history subjects is not collectors but teachers, who find the stamps useful “hooks” to get their students interested in these people. [Disclaimers: I don’t speak for the USPS nor have I asked them about this. I am a member of ESPER but not African-American nor a member of any philatelic group that might concentrate on stamps that represent my ethnic groups.]
How does her holding of Robert F. Goheen Chair coincide with the March 7 release date?🤔
True. And that’s why I was surprised. For whom those stamps are being released? You said, “a major “audience” for Black history subjects isn’t collectors but teachers”. Ok, so in a time when I attended US schools (2001-2007), not a single teacher told me or anyone in the class “oh look, there are those stamps with Duke Ellington or Louis Armstrong or Jackie Robinson”, (although, more then a few were released back then). We had a whole week of discussion on Madame C.J. Walker, a stamp to whom was released in 1998. We did this discussion without referencing to the stamp itself. Same was with Jackie Robinson, Martin Luther King Jr, etc.
Sharing the same disclaimers.😀
From Post Bull 26 JAN: USPS# 4831 No Auto-Distrib PIC, DCP, and ANY city cancels.
From the USPS Facebook page.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/1310717673040214/
You must Sign Up for this Facebook page about Toni Morrison. Supposedly Free. ( SPAM )
Do NOT sign up for that Group. It is not an official USPS page. It adds no information. The “Luke” account was created at the same time. I don’t know if it’s a scam or just someone infatuated with Morrison, but I recommend avoiding it.
From Linns APR 03 Scott # 5757