BLACK HISTORY MONTH

COMMEMORATIVE STAMP

Author Ernest J. Gaines

Retired librarian Doug Jones speaks on author Ernest J. Gaines at the post office on Saturday to mark the release of the commemorative stamp. Photos By RIDDHI PATEL


Author Ernest J. Gaines commemorative stamp.

By RIDDHI PATEL Reporter

Wakulla County Christian Coalition held a stamp reveal and commemoration for the 46th Black Heritage Series stamp at the Crawfordville Post Office on the morning of Saturday, Feb. 4.

This year’s honoree was Ernest J. Gaines, a distinguished author.

The event began with a song and prayer led by the Rev. Samuel Hayes. Following the prayer, former Wakulla County librarian Doug Jones was invited to share some history about the Black Heritage stamp series and about this year’s honoree, Gaines.
Jones shared that Gaines’ most notable works are “The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman” and “A Lesson Before Dying.”
Gaines was the son of sharecroppers, born in 1933 on a plantation in Louisiana. Jones said that Gaines’ novels reflected his childhood and “explored the untold stories of rural African Americans.”

About Gaines, the U.S. Postal Service shared, “Adding a vital African American voice to American literature, Ernest J. Gaines brought worldwide attention to generations of men and women who asserted their own dignity in the face of racial oppression and violence.”
Jones noted that he just finished reading “A Lesson Before Dying,” a novel that has won the National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction. “I consider it a privilege,” Jones said. “It is such a moving story.”

On the columns behind Jones, there were images of past Black Heritage Series stamps and the biographies of individuals who were honored. A drawing was held for a sheet of the Gaines stamps, and the winner of that drawing was Rev. Hayes.

The first-day-of-issue event, during which the stamp featuring Gaines was officially unveiled, was held on Jan. 23 at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette.

Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, this was the first Black Heritage Series stamp commemoration held in Wakulla County in approximately two years.