Slave owners celebrated on U.S. stamps

Collector Bill Schultz, of West Chester, Pa., highlighted a “common bond” shared by 12 U.S. presidents featured on that country’s classic stamps in a recent issue of WE Expressions, the monthly newsletter of Women Exhibitors, a philatelic organization founded in 2007.

Beside the stamps, Schultz included the known number of slaves “owned” by each respective president – something that’s “pertinent to our understanding of the history of injustice in the U.S.,” he wrote.

“Stamps do tell us a story to be sure.”

While all 12 presidents were slave owners during their lives, eight of them owned slaves while in office.

“We can pretend as the country has done for about 400 years that injustice is not a menace or an ongoing significant aggravation,” he wrote, adding many other slave-owning U.S. politicians – vice-presidents, cabinet secretaries, court justices, department heads and more – have been honoured on the country’s stamps.

To read Schultz’s anecdote, visit bit.ly/3a5n3TZ.

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