Download this report as an MP3 sound file.

For broadcast on CBS Radio Network stations July 22-23, 2006:

Overlooked

The Stamp Collecting Report, I'm Lloyd de Vries. 

The U-S has issued stamps for the first woman elected to the Senate...and the first 
Hispanic....but surprisingly, despite the annual Black Heritage series, NOT the first 
African-American.

"We are often perceived as entertainers, as athletes, as succeeding only in those 
areas."
RUNS :05

And biographer Lawrence Otis Graham thinks Blanche Bruce, elected to the Senate from 
Mississippi in 1874, should get his own stamp.

"If you're going to have the first woman, the first Hispanic American, it just seems 
natural  that the first African American -- especially since he preceded all of those 
people."
RUNS :07

Graham says Bruce was much more than just a one-term Senator.

"He was also the first African-American ever to have his name and signature on American
 currency, because he held the top Treasury job under three U.S. presidents in the 1800s."
RUNS :12

The Postal Service gets some forty thousand suggestions for stamps each year. We'll find 
out next month who made the cut for 2007.

And that's Stamp Collecting this week. 

I'm Lloyd de Vries, CBS News. 
<I'm Lloyd de Vries of the Virtual Stamp Club for APS StampTalk>
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[Longer Version]

Download this report as an MP3 sound file.

The U-S has issued stamps for the first woman elected to the Senate...and the first 
Hispanic....but surprisingly, despite the annual Black Heritage series, NOT the first 
African-American.

"We are often perceived as entertainers, as athletes, as succeeding only in those 
areas."
RUNS :05

And author Lawrence Otis Graham thinks Blanche Bruce, elected to the Senate from 
Mississippi in 1874, should get his own stamp.

"If you're going to have the first woman, the first Hispanic American, it just seems 
natural  that the first African American -- especially since he preceded all of those 
people."
RUNS :07

Writer Ken Lawrence agrees that Bruce is worthy of a stamp.

"He was not only speaking for the recently-freed slaves, but he was also protesting 
the discrimination against Chinese immigrants."
RUNS :10

Graham, who has written a new book about Bruce, says he was much more than just a 
one-term Senator.

"He was also the first African-American ever to have his name and signature on American 
currency, because he held the top Treasury job under three U.S. presidents in the 1800s."
RUNS :12

The Postal Service gets some forty thousand suggestions for stamps each year. We'll find 
out next month who made the cut for 2007.

I'm Lloyd de Vries of The Virtual Stamp Club. For more about stamps and stamp collecting, 
visit virtual-stamp-club-dot-com
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