L to R: Deputy Postmaster General Ronald Stroman; and Alabama Manager, Marketing Bridgett Carroll; Manager, Consumer and Industry Contact April Williams, District Manager Mary Sullivan, and Acting Senior Plant Manager Scott Bower. Photo: Marvin Owens (who also designed the commemorative envelope)
Deputy
Postmaster General Ronald A. Stroman received thunderous applause as he unveiled an
enlargement of a commemorative envelope recognizing the 50th
anniversary of the Selma-to-Montgomery March for Voting Rights at the Bridge
Crossing Jubilee’s Freedom Flames Awards Gala in
Selma, AL.
Each year
the city of Selma commemorates the anniversary of the March 7, 1965
"Bloody Sunday" march. Fifty years ago, state troopers used billy
clubs and tear gas on 600 Civil Rights marchers who attempted to cross the
Edmund Pettus Bridge. The march gave traction to the Civil Rights Movement and
led to the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 that ensured African
Americans the right to vote.
At the
March 7th gala, Alabama District Manager Mary A. Sullivan, A/Senior
Manager Scott R. Bower, Marketing Manager Bridgett Carroll, and Manager
Consumer and Industry Contact April Williams joined the DPMG on stage for the
unveiling. Also on stage were Civil
Rights related stamps --- Rosa Parks, the Edmund Pettus Bridge and March on
Washington.
“Stamps
have been called our nation’s calling cards as each one tells a story about the
history, heritage, and heroes that shape our country,” the DPMG told an
audience of 1,200 guests that included Congressional members, local dignitaries
and Civil Rights activists, and entertainers. “Our Black Heritage series has
helped educate the public about the achievements of Dr. King, Rosa Parks,
Jackie Robinson, Thurgood Marshall, Shirley Chisholm, and many others.”
Stroman
also spoke of the U.S. Postal Service’s role as a gateway to the middle class
--- offering African Americans careers in the organization in the early 20th
century --- to becoming a leading employer of African Americans, who comprise
almost one quarter of the workforce.
“It’s a
source of tremendous pride for us --- and it’s one of the reasons we’ve made
diversity a cornerstone of our work in other areas,” said Stroman.
Alabama
employee Marvin Owens designed the commemorative envelope --- a near sellout
during the gala and at the postal booth --- will be available in select Alabama
Post Offices. The Robert Robinson Taylor stamp and other Black Heritage related
philatelic items also were popular items at the postal booth.
President
Barack Obama and family, along with former President George W. Bush and his
wife, Laura, were among the thousands of people who visited Selma this weekend.
U.S. Representative John Lewis, one of
the demonstrators bloodied by troopers 50 years ago, joined President Obama and
nearly 100 members of Congress at the Edmund Pettus Bridge to commemorate
“Bloody Sunday.”
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