Celebrating the Works of William H. Johnson

African-American Artist Honored on Forever Stamp

BALTIMORE, April 10, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The following is being released by the U.S. Postal Service:

What: First-Day-of-Issue dedication ceremony of William H. Johnson Forever stamp.

Who: Ronald Stroman, deputy postmaster general, U.S. Postal Service
Dr. David Wilson, president, Morgan State University
Dr. Leslie King-Hammond, Graduate Dean Emerita/founding director, Center for Race and Culture
S. Marquette Folley, project director, Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service
Marcellus Shepard, radio personality, WEAA-FM 88.9

When: 11 a.m., Wed. Apr. 11, 2012

Where: Murphy Fine Arts Center – Gilliam Concert
Morgan State University
2201 Argonne Drive
Baltimore, MD 21251

Background: Flowers, an oil-on-plywood painting dated 1939-1940, depicts a vase of boldly rendered, brightly colored blooms on a small red table. Johnson is recognized as a major figure in 20th century American art. He is known for his colorful, folk-inspired scenes of African-American daily life as well as his dramatic Scandinavian landscapes. The Postal Service honors William H. Johnson, through the 11th issuance of the American Treasures series as a sheet of 20 self-adhesive Forever stamps. The stamps go on sale nationwide April 11.

The Postal Service receives no tax dollars for operating expenses, and relies on the sale of postage, products and services to fund its operations.

A self-supporting government enterprise, the U.S. Postal Service is the only delivery service that reaches every address in the nation, 151 million residences, businesses and Post Office Boxes. The Postal Service receives no tax dollars for operating expenses, and relies on the sale of postage, products and services to fund its operations. With 32,000 retail locations and the most frequently visited website in the federal government, usps.com, the Postal Service has annual revenue of more than $65 billion and delivers nearly 40 percent of the world's mail. If it were a private sector company, the U.S. Postal Service would rank 35th in the 2011 Fortune 500. In 2011, the U.S. Postal Service was ranked number one in overall service performance, out of the top 20 wealthiest nations in the world, by Oxford Strategic Consulting. Black Enterprise and Hispanic Business magazines ranked the Postal Service as a leader in workforce diversity. The Postal Service has been named the Most Trusted Government Agency for six years and the sixth Most Trusted Business in the nation by the Ponemon Institute.

Follow the Postal Service on Twitter @USPS_PR and at Facebook.com/usps

SOURCE U.S. Postal Service