African Americans on Postage Stamps

Ella Baker and Ruby Hurley

Civil Rights Pioneers

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42-cent Ella Baker and Ruby Hurley stamp. The Civil Rights Pioneers Issue was released on February 21, 2009.

Ella Baker's (1903-1986) lifetime of activism made her a skillful organizer. She encouraged women and young people to assume positions of leadership in the civil rights movement. The portrait of Ella Baker is dated between 1943 and 1946 and is from NAACP records at the Library of Congress.

As a courageous and capable official with the NAACP, Ruby Hurley (1909-1980) did difficult, dangerous work in the South. Hurley’s image is from a 1963 newspaper photo.

The Black Experience