US Stamps

USPS board member Stroman reflects on stamp collector John Lewis

Aug 2, 2023, 12 PM
United States Postal Service board of governors member Ronald Stroman speaking at the John Lewis forever stamp first-day ceremony July 21 in Atlanta, Ga. Photograph by Daniel Afzal, United States Postal Service.

Philatelic Foreword by Jay Bigalke

The United States Postal Service issued a new commemorative postage stamp honoring civil rights icon John Lewis July 21 at Morehouse College in Atlanta, Ga.

I was fortunate to be among the approximately 900 people in the audience for this fitting and moving ceremony.

One highlight for me was the focus placed on stamp collecting. Lewis was an avid collector and purchaser of new stamps from the Postal Service.

Multiple speakers talked about memories related to the mail and stamp collecting throughout the two-hour ceremony.

After the event, I had the honor of speaking with USPS board of governors member Ronald Stroman who has been on the board since May 2021. His term expires in December 2028. He was also the deputy postmaster general from March 2011 to June 2020, a period in which I attended many ceremonies and had the privilege to get to know him.

After the Lewis ceremony, I spoke to Stroman about Lewis and the new stamp. What follows are abbreviated versions of my questions with Stroman’s reply.

In 2013, you dedicated the March on Washington stamp alongside Lewis. What does it feel like for you to now dedicate a stamp showing somebody who you were at an event with?

I will tell you that it’s very emotional for me. Because John Lewis, whenever we called him, he always came and he spoke with such passion about the March on Washington, but also about the country. And so for me to have known him, for me to have interacted with him for his kindness, it is just a very moving and an emotional moment for me.

In your remarks, you mentioned that you visited Lewis’ office on Capitol Hill. What was that experience like?

You know, when you go into John Lewis’ office, obviously you know who John Lewis is and you want to do everything you can to get him whatever he wants. And he was always just very passionate, but he was a gentleman. And I would just say to John Lewis, congressman, I got it. I’ll take care of it. I’ll do whatever it is you want. And he was just that kind of person. He had an effect on me, unlike any other member of Congress where I would just go out of my way to do whatever I could to deal with John Lewis because he was not only a gentleman, but he was an icon for the country.

So would a typical conversation end up being about mail delivery issues or things along those lines?

It could be.

Did he ever dive into the stamp world? Because we know he had an interest in stamps, is there anything vague or specific you could mention in that regard for that topic of conversation?

He was at both the Dorothy Height and the March on Washington events. And when I talked to him in preparation for that, he just told me how much he wanted to be there and how much being on a stamp meant to him and to have some of these civil rights icons [on stamps]. And to have the March on Washington reflected in the stamp, he said was just one of the great honors and he wanted to be a part of it. So for now, for him to be on the stamp is just, I think, a real high honor.

There’s the three-year rule from passing to be placed on a stamp right now, and this Lewis stamp was very close to the date [Lewis died on July 17, 2020]. Is there any coincidence to how fast this was?

Well, you know, I think what happens is you need to, in most instances, you take the three years and then you have to reflect, you have to do some research, you have to do some background, you have to talk to the family. In this case, it was a no-brainer. It was a unanimous call. It’s sort of like having a, being in the Hall of Fame. And having everybody say of course. I mean, we don’t even have to. So there was no discussion. John Lewis. Yeah. He’s in there. It’s there.

Are there any other comments you’d want to make in regards to the stamp collecting part of Lewis’ life?

It was big, you know, and it was. I think, you know, again, it was being part of the Postal Service to know that he was a stamp collector. And I think part of the reason that he was a stamp collector is, if you read his biography, he lived in a small town of Troy and he says it was a segregated town. One of the few white people he ever saw was the postal carrier that would come to town. And I think again, that reflected to him the importance of integration. How the Postal Service helped to really create the black middle class.

So he then became a stamp collector because of his love for the Postal Service. So for me, again, it’s just a full circle.

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