# 5834-43 - 2024 First-Class Forever Stamps - Underground Railroad

US #5834-43
2024 Underground Railroad

• Honors the countless people who made their way to freedom or helped others reach freedom through the Underground Railroad
• Pictures 10 individuals associated with the Underground Railroad

Stamp Category: Commemorative
Value: 68¢ First Class Mail Rate (Forever)
First Day of Issue: March 9, 2024
First Day City: Church Creek, Maryland
Quantity Issued: 20,000,000
Printed by: Ashton Potter (USA) Ltd.
Printing Method: Offset
Format: Panes of 20
Watermark: Nonphosphored Type III, Block Tag Applied

Why the stamps were issued: To commemorate the Underground Railroad and the many people who helped slaves or former slaves escape the South.

About the stamp designs: Each pictures a sepia-toned portrait of a man or woman who escaped slavery and/or helped others escape. Each stamp also includes eight lines of text which read: BLACK/WHITE; COOPERATION; TRUST/DANGER; FLIGHT/FAITH; COURAGE/RISK; DEFIANCE/HOPE; UNDERGROUND; RAILROAD/USA. On the reverse side of the pane of 20, there is a map picturing routes taken on the Underground Railroad from the South to North. The reverse side also includes a list of people pictured on the stamps plus biographical information on them. Designed by Antonio Alcalá using existing images.

First Day City: The First Day of Issue Ceremony was held at the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Visitor Center in Church Creek, Maryland.

History the stamps represent: The Underground Railroad was a secret highway that ferried Black Americans to freedom before and during the Civil War. According to John Rankin, the network was named “because they who took passage on it disappeared from public view really as if they had gone into the ground.”

Those who worked on the Underground Railroad played several roles. “Conductors” were responsible for leading escaped slaves to “stations” which consisted of safe houses owned by free Black Americans or White abolitionists (often Quakers). These “station masters” risked it all to help former slaves find their freedom, as, in many cases, the law required fugitives be returned to their enslavers. Station masters used their own money to provide food, clothing, and even medicine to their “passengers.” Some churches and other groups donated money and supplies, too.

Due to the nature of its work, the Underground Railroad did not have any maps or printed guidelines advertising it. It was all dependent on word of mouth and trusting that each person who knew about it would keep its workings a secret. Codes were also established to help relay information in a safer way.

In 2024, the US Postal Service issued 10 stamps picturing men and women who helped operate the Underground Railroad. To the Black Americans who fought to escape the inhumanity of slavery, the people running the Underground Railroad were real-life saints.