Kwanzaa 32-cent US postage stamp (1997)
Detail of the self-adhesive pane of Kwanzaa stamps designed by Synthia Saint James
Kwanzaa is a celebration of African-American culture that occurs every year between December 26 and January 1. Created by activist Maulana Karenga, it was first celebrated in 1966. The US Postal Service issued a 32-cent Kwanzaa stamp for the first time on October 22, 1997, in Los Angeles, California. Designed by Synthia Saint James, the stamp features the seven symbols used to celebrate the principles that serve as the foundation of Kwanzaa: umoja (unity), kujichagulia (self-determination), ujima (collective work and responsibility), ujamaa (cooperative economics), nia (purpose), kuumba (creativity), and imani (faith).
Many Kwanzaa stamps have followed since 1997. This inaugural design uses Koch’s Neuland for the word KWANZAA, and Carol Twombly’s Lithos to set the country of origin (USA) and stamp value. The National Postal Museum notes that “the stamps were issued in self-adhesive panes of fifty and self-adhesive vendible booklets of fifteen.”
The Question can be put simply: How did these two typefaces come to signify Africans and African-Americans, regardless of how a designer uses them, and regardless of the purpose for which their creators originally intended them?
—Rob Giampietro, “New Black Face: Neuland and Lithos as Stereotypography,” Lined & Unlined, 2004
