Ernest J. Gaines Stamps

Forever 68¢
There are different types of stamps available for purchase from USPS^®.

Forever 68-cents
Forever stamps can be used to send one ounce of First-Class Mail even if stamp prices increase in the future.

Over 68-cents
Stamps and postage for international mail, packages and large envelopes.

Under 68-cents
Additional postage you can add for mail weighing over one ounce.

SKU:

Issue Date: 1/23/2023

The 46th stamp in the Black Heritage series honors author Ernest J. Gaines (1933–2019). Best known for such novels as The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman and A Lesson Before Dying, Gaines drew from his childhood as the son of sharecroppers on a Louisiana plantation to explore the untold stories of rural African Americans.

1. Format:

Sheet of 20 $13.60

More Information

Expand all

Description

Product Specs

Shipping Info

The 46th stamp in the Black Heritage series honors author Ernest J. Gaines (1933–2019). Best known for such novels as The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman and A Lesson Before Dying, Gaines drew from his childhood as the son of sharecroppers on a Louisiana plantation to explore the untold stories of rural African Americans.
The stamp art is an oil painting of Gaines based on a 2001 photograph.
Ernest J. Gaines was born on River Lake Plantation in the town of Oscar just outside New Roads, Louisiana, where his family had lived in the former slave quarter for five generations. He moved to California in 1948, but for decades afterward, his fiction reflected a deep and unbreakable connection to the rural Louisiana of his youth.
After serving in the Army for two years and graduating from college, Gaines received a prestigious fellowship in 1958 to study creative writing at Stanford University. He published his first novel, Catherine Carmier, in 1964, but he achieved true fame, widespread acclaim, and a Pulitzer Prize nomination in 1971 with The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman, a novel chronicling the recollections of its 110-year-old African American protagonist, whose life spans slavery to the civil rights era.
In 1981, Gaines took a position teaching creative writing at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette (then known as the University of Southwestern Louisiana) and soon became the university’s Writer-in-Residence. In 1983, he published the novel A Gathering of Old Men, in which a group of African American men assert their humanity and pride in the face of long-standing prejudice and violence.
In 1993, Gaines published his most critically and popularly acclaimed novel, A Lesson Before Dying, about a college-educated African American teacher who provides education and inspiration to a young farmhand awaiting execution for murder. Over the course of their difficult visits in prison, they form a bond that shows both of them the need to resist those who would deny them their dignity and self-respect. In addition to earning the National Book Critics Circle Award, A Lesson Before Dying resulted in Gaines receiving a prestigious MacArthur Foundation “Genius” Fellowship.
In 2013, Gaines accepted the National Medal of Arts from President Barack Obama, calling it the greatest honor he had ever received. Today the Baton Rouge Area Foundation continues to endow an annual Ernest J. Gaines Award for Literary Excellence, which recognizes excellent African American fiction writers who are just beginning to rise to national prominence.
Mike Ryan designed this stamp with art by Robert Peterson based on a photograph by Raoul Benavides. Greg Breeding served as art director.
The Ernest J. Gaines stamp is being issued as a Forever® stamp in panes of 20. This Forever stamp is always equal in value to the current First-Class Mail® one-ounce price.
Made in the USA.

Issue:	Ernest J. Gaines Stamp
Item Number:	482900
Denomination &	First-Class Mail Forever
Type of Issue:
Format:	Pane of 20 (1 design)
Series:	Black Heritage
Issue Date & City:	January 23, 2023, Lafayette, LA, 70501
Art Director:	Greg Breeding, Charlottesville, VA
Designer:	Mike Ryan, Charlottesville, VA
Artist:	Robert Peterson, Lawton, OK
Modeler:	Sandra Lane / Michelle Finn
Manufacturing Process:	Offset, Microprint
Printer:	Banknote Corporation of America
Press Type:	Alprinta 74
Stamps per Pane:	20
Print Quantity:	35,000,000 stamps
Paper Type:	Phosphor, Block Tag
Adhesive Type:	Pressure-sensitive
Colors:	Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Black, Pantone 3597
Stamp Orientation:	Vertical
Image Area (w x h):	0.84 x 1.42 in / 21.336 x 36.068 mm
Overall Size (w x h):	0.98 x 1.56 in / 24.892 x 39.624 mm
Full Pane Size (w x h):	6.00 x 8.50 in / 152.40 x 215.90 mm
Press Sheets Size (w x h):	18.0 x 25.75 in./ 457.20 x 654.05 mm
Plate Size:	180 stamps per revolution
Plate Number:	“B” followed by four (4) single digits in two corners
Marginal Markings:
Front:	Header: “Black Heritage, Celebrating Ernest J. Gaines, 46th in a series” • Plate number in bottom 2 corners
Back:	©2022 USPS • USPS logo • Two barcodes (482900) • Plate position diagram (9) • Promotional text

The Postal Store® ships all in-stock orders with USPS Tracking® service. Please allow 3-5 business days for in-stock items to be shipped with Standard Shipping, or 1-2 business days for in-stock orders to be shipped with Priority Mail Express® service.

Pre- or Back-Ordered Items
If your order contains pre- or back-ordered items, those items will ship separately when all pre- or back-ordered items are available.
To view your order status and tracking information, sign in to your USPS.com® account, go to "Activity History", and select your order number.
The Postal Store® cannot accept orders for shipment outside the United States, but we do ship to APO/FPO/DPO addresses and U.S. territories.
Stamp & Philatelic Orders
All stamp and philatelic orders are charged a $1.70 handling fee on domestic orders up to $50.00, and $2.35 if the order is greater than $50.00. These fixed handling fees apply to only the portion of the order total that includes stamp and/or philatelic items.
Retail Items
A retail item is any product that does not include a stamp or a form of postage. If your order includes retail items, we will add a shipping charge to the order based on the weight of the retail items and the “ship to” ZIP Code™. All in-stock retail items will ship within 5–7 business days.

Personalized Stamped Stationery
All Personalized Stamped Stationery items are charged Priority Mail Flat Rate® pricing, depending on how many boxes are ordered, and should be shipped within 5–7 business days.

The Postal Store®

Ernest J. Gaines Stamps

Ernest J. Gaines Stamps

1. Format:

More Information

Expand all

Description

Product Specs

Shipping Info

File or Page Requested Not Found

The Postal Store^®