The history of women on US stamps begins in 1893, when Queen Isabella became the first woman on a US stamp.[1] Queen Isabella helped support Christopher Columbus's 1492 voyage, and 1893 marked the end of a year-long celebration of the 400th anniversary of that voyage.[1] [2] The first US stamp honoring an American woman honored Martha Washington, and it was issued in 1902.[3] [4] In 1907, Pocahontas became the first Native American woman (and the first Native American) to be honored on a US stamp.[5] In 1978, Harriet Tubman became the first African-American woman to be honored on a US stamp.[6] In 2001, Frida Kahlo became the first Hispanic woman to be honored on a US stamp, though she was Mexican not American.[7] [8]
Groups of women have also been honored on US stamps, for example Gold Star Mothers (1948) and "Women In Our Armed Services" (1952).[9] [10]
There are also generic, unnamed women who appear on US stamps, such as a woman marching with men for the National Recovery Act (1933).
US stamps have also depicted female goddesses and allegories, such as personifications of liberty.[11]
Since 1957, the Citizens’ Stamp Advisory Committee (CSAC) has worked as the sole group responsible for selecting and recommending subjects to be featured on U.S. stamps. Members of the committee are appointed by the Postmaster General.[12] There are 11 members on the committee, currently three women and 8 men.
First sold in April 2007, Forever Stamps can be used to mail a one-ounce letter regardless of when the stamps are purchased or used and no matter how prices may change in the future. In 2011, all first-class, one ounce stamps became Forever Stamps and all commemorative stamps began being issued as Forever Stamps.
The U.S. Postal Service classifies many stamps featuring groups, artwork, works of literature, and social efforts and awareness campaigns as "women stamps". Among these groups are the artwork of Mary Cassatt (featured five times), the Nursing stamp, and the Breast Cancer Awareness Month stamp.
This list can be expanded with women stamps from here [13]
| Women | Year | Notable for | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1893 | Queen Isabella appeared with Christopher Columbus on a 4-dollar stamp. Her portrait is the first portrait of a woman to appear on a US postage stamp.[14] | ||
| 1902, 1923, 1938 | First First Lady of the United States | ||
| 1907 | Pocahontas was a Native American woman and a member of the Native American group Powhatans. She was an intermediary between the Native Americans and the nearby English colonists. She was taken captive by colonists, which culminated in 150 armed colonists going to Powhatan to demand ransom, burn down villages, and kill Native American men.[15] Issued as a part of the Jamestown Exposition Issue.[16] | ||
| 1928 | The nickname of a woman, whose identity is not definitively known, who is said to have fought in the American Revolutionary War | ||
| 1936, 1955 | American feminist, social reformer, and civil rights activist | ||
| 1937 | First European child born on American soil | ||
| 1940 | American author, best known for writing Little Women and Little Men | ||
| 1940 | American educator, reformer, lecturer, and women's suffrage supporter | ||
| 1940 | American social worker and reformer, the founder of Hull House in Chicago, a social welfare center | ||
| 1948, 1995 | Founder of the American Red Cross | ||
| 1948 | Founder of the Girl Scouts of the USA | ||
| 1948 | Initiated the Veterans of Foreign Wars fundraising drive selling red poppies in 1915 | ||
| 1952 | American upholsterer credited with creating the first official flag of the United States | ||
| 1954, 1994 | Shoshone guide who assisted the Lewis and Clark Expedition of 1804 | ||
| 1963 | American pilot, first woman to fly solo nonstop across the Atlantic Ocean | ||
| 1963, 1984, 1998 | American diplomat, writer, social reformer, and First Lady of the United States | ||
| 1966, 1988, 1998 | American painter best known for her works of mothers and children | ||
| 1968 | Nineteenth century abolitionist and women's rights leader | ||
| 1969 | American painter who took up painting at the age of 76 | ||
| 1971 | American poet who wrote more than 1,700 poems | ||
| 1973 | American novelist | ||
| 1973 | American physician, the first female physician in the U.S. | ||
| 1975 | American-born heroine of the American Revolutionary War | ||
| 1976 | American nurse best known for having died as a volunteer for yellow fever medical experiments | ||
| 1978, 1995 | American abolitionist and social activist who was part of the Underground Railroad | ||
| 1980 | American social worker and activist best known for introducing Christmas Seals to the United States | ||
| 1980 | American author and disability rights advocate | ||
| 1980 | American teacher best known for being the instructor and lifelong companion of Helen Keller | ||
| 1980 | First Lady of the United States | ||
| 1980 | American workers-rights advocate and fourth United States Secretary of Labor, the first female to hold a cabinet-level position in the United States government | ||
| 1980 | American novelist best known for her novels Ethan Frome and The Age of Innocence | ||
| 1981 | American marine biologist, writer, and conservationist, best known for writing Silent Spring in advance of the environmental movement | ||
| 1981 | American poet | ||
| 1981 | American multi-sport athlete | ||
| 1982 | American abolitionist, prohibitionist, prisoner of war, and surgeon, the only woman to receive the Medal of Honor | ||
| 1983 | American advocate for the indigent mentally ill | ||
| 1983 | American writer and novelist, best known for the novel, The Good Earth | ||
| 1984 | American psychologist and industrial engineer, a pioneer in the field of time-and-motion studies | ||
| 1985 | First Lady of the United States | ||
| 1985 | American educator, social activist, and founder of the Daytona Educational and Industrial Training School for Negro Girls, now known as Bethune-Cookman College | ||
| 1986 | American politician, the first female candidate for President of the United States | ||
| 1986 | American novelist and journalist, best known for the novel Gone with the Wind | ||
| 1986 | Born Isabella Baumfree, she was the first black woman to speak publicly against slavery. | ||
| 1987 | Composer of "The Battle Hymn of the Republic". | ||
| 1987 | Education pioneer who founded Mount Holyoke College. | ||
| 1989 | American chorus girl, artists' model, actress and controversial historical figure. | ||
| 1990 | A gold medalist in the 1932 Olympic Games in swimming. | ||
| 1990 | Poet who won the Pulitzer Prize in 1951 for her Collected Poems. | ||
| 1990 | Civil rights activist who cofounded the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. | ||
| 1990 | Olympic gold medalist credited with doing more to build American and international women's tennis than any other player. | ||
| 1991 | Singer and comedian who created the "Baby Snooks" radio character. | ||
| 1991 | First American woman pilot to fly the English Channel. | ||
| 1992 | Poet and short story writer | ||
| 1993 | Popular American country singer | ||
| 1993 | Pioneers of American country music | ||
| 1993 | American film actress | ||
| 1993 | "Queen of the Blues" | ||
| 1994 | Silent film actress | ||
| 1994 | Silent film actress | ||
| 1994 | Silent film actresse | ||
| 1994 | The "Angel of Tombstone", an anti-violence advocate who raised orphans and campaigned against public hanging | ||
| 1994 | American jazz, swing, and pop singer and actress | ||
| 1994 | American blues singer | ||
| 1994 | American jazz and swing singer | ||
| 1994 | Native American jazz singer | ||
| 1994 | American actress and singer of musical comedy | ||
| 1994 | American sharpshooter | ||
| 1994 | Doctor who developed a newborn assessment method | ||
| 1995 | American anthropologist | ||
| 1995 | American Civil War author | ||
| 1995 | American nurse and hospital administrator for Confederate States military hospital | ||
| 1995 | First woman to earn an international pilot's license | ||
| 1995 | Pioneer in industrial medicine | ||
| 1995 | American film actor | ||
| 1995 | Founder of National Women's Party and author of the Equal Rights Amendment | ||
| 1996 | Pioneer pilot who had more than 200 aviation records, firsts, and awards. She was the first woman to break the sound barrier | ||
| 1996, 2013 | American-born abstract painter | ||
| 1996 | Popular songwriter of the 1920s and 1930s. She wrote the words for "On the Sunny Side of the Street" | ||
| 1997 | French-American operatic soprano and actress | ||
| 1997 | American operatic soprano | ||
| 1997 | This stamp honored the nearly 2 million women have served and are serving in the U.S. armed forces | ||
| 1998 | Founder of the Frontier Nursing Service | ||
| 1998 | American gospel singer | ||
| 1998 | American gospel composer, singer, pianist, arranger, and choral organizer | ||
| 1998 | American singer and guitarist | ||
| 1998 | American gospel singers | ||
| 1998 | Famous anthropologist who studied child rearing, personality, and culture, mainly in the South Pacific | ||
| 1998 | African American who became one of the wealthiest women in the 1910s by developing and selling hair care products | ||
| 1999 | Author of the novels The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged | ||
| 2000 | Lawyer and political adviser; in 1977 she became the first African American woman named to a presidential cabinet | ||
| 2000 | Twentieth-century American sculptor who worked with wood, metals, and found objects | ||
| 2001 | First woman elected to U.S. Senate | ||
| 2001 | American illustrator | ||
| 1999, 2001, 2009 | American comedian and actress | ||
| 2001 | Mexican artist | ||
| 2002 | American journalist best known for her 72-day trip around the globe | ||
| 2002 | American reporter and war correspondent | ||
| 2002 | American journalist, editor, and foreign correspondent | ||
| 2002 | American writer, journalist, and lecturer, famous as a muckraking reporter of the late 19th and early 20th centuries | ||
| 2003 | African American novelist in the Harlem Renaissance | ||
| 2003 | Film actress and goodwill ambassador for UNICEF | ||
| 1988, 2003 | American artist known for her portraits of motherhood | ||
| Agnes Lee and her daughter Peggy | 2002 | American author and, with her daughter, the subject of a photograph by American photographer Gertrude Käsebier featured on a US postage stamp | |
| 1998 | American depression-era woman who was the subject of a photograph by American photographer Dorothea Lange entitled "Migrant Mother" which was featured on a US postage stamp | ||
| Ida Pabst | 2002 | Daughter-in-law of Frederick Pabst (the German-American brewer for whom Pabst Brewing Company was named) and the subject of a portrait by American photographer Imogen Cunningham which was featured on a US postage stamp | |
| 2004 | American dancer and choreographer | ||
| 2004 | American modern dancer and choreographer | ||
| 2004 | Track and field star | ||
| 2005 | Opera singer who was the first African-American to sing at the Metropolitan Opera | ||
| 2005 | Actress of the silver screen | ||
| 2006 | Singer and actress who was the first African-American to win an Oscar | ||
| 2006 | Diplomat | ||
| 2006 | Actress and singer, star of The Wizard of Oz | ||
| 2007 | Jazz singer | ||
| 2008 | Biochemist | ||
| 2008 | Nuclear physicist | ||
| 2008 | American actress | ||
| 2008 | Journalist who covered the Spanish Civil War, World War II, and the Vietnam War | ||
| 2008 | Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Yearling | ||
| 2009 | Civil rights and women's rights activist | ||
| 2009 | Civil rights activist | ||
| 2009 | Civil rights activist | ||
| 2009 | Civil rights activist | ||
| 2009 | Civil rights activist | ||
| 2009 | Civil rights activist | ||
| 2009 | Health activist and philanthropist | ||
| 2009 | African-American scholar | ||
| 2009 | American actress and singer | ||
| 2009 | American singer, actress, and television personality | ||
| 2009 | American comedian, singer, and TV and radio personality | ||
| 2009 | American vaudevillian, singer, actress, and comedian | ||
| 2009 | American singer and actress | ||
| 2010 | American actress | ||
| 2010 | American contralto singer | ||
| 2010 | Albanian-born Indian Catholic nun canonized as a Catholic saint in 2016, best known for her life devoted to charitable work | ||
| 2010 | Puerto Rican pro-independence poet | ||
| 2011 | Portuguese-born Brazilian-American samba singer, dancer, and actress | ||
| 2011 | American Tejano singer | ||
| 2011 | Cuban-American singer | ||
| 2011 | First secretary of the US Department of Health, Education and Welfare, first commanding officer of the Women's Army Corps | ||
| 2011 | American actress | ||
| 2011 | German-born American theoretical physicist | ||
| 2011 | Swedish-born American industrial designer | ||
| 2011 | American politician and a leader of the Civil Rights Movement | ||
| 2012 | American poet and short-story author | ||
| 2012 | American poet, author, and teacher | ||
| 2012 | British-born American poet | ||
| 2012 | American poet and author | ||
| 2012 | French singer | ||
| 2012 | American dancer and choreographer | ||
| 2012 | American dancer and choreographer | ||
| 2012 | First Lady of the United States | ||
| 2013 | Civil rights activist | ||
| 2013 | Latin music legend | ||
| 2013 | Tennis player | ||
| 2014 | Politician - first African-American woman elected to the U.S. Congress | ||
| 2014 | Singer and songwriter | ||
| 2014 | Chef, author, television personality | ||
| 2014 | Chef, author, television personality | ||
| 2014 | Chef, author | ||
| 2015 | Poet, author and civil rights activist | ||
| 2015 | Writer | ||
| 2015 | Actress | ||
| 2016 | Singer | ||
| 2016 | Actress, later businesswoman and diplomat | ||
| 2017 | Civil rights and women's rights activist | ||
| 2018 | Singer, dancer, actress and civil rights activist | ||
| 2018 | Astronaut, engineer, physicist | ||
| 2020 | Journalist; first African-American woman to host a major political talk show: PBS's "Washington Week in Review" in 1999[17] | ||
| Chien-Shiung Wu | 2021 | Nuclear physicist | |
| 2022 | Sculptor; first African-American and Native American sculptor to earn international recognition[18] | ||
| 2022 | American ichthyologist | ||
| 2022 | First Lady of the United States | ||
| 1934 | Mother of American-born painter James Abbott McNeill Whistler | ||
| 1980 | Inventor and pioneering aviator | ||
| 1982 | American film actress | ||
| 1998 | American magazine publisher and philanthropist; co-founder of Reader's Digest | ||
| 1999 | English actress | ||
| 2001 | American illustrator and portrait painter | ||
| 2002 | American author of novels, short stories, and plays | ||
| 2005 | American genetecist | ||
| 2006 | American author and journalist | ||
| 2007 | American Congresswoman and Senator from Maine, the first woman to serve in both houses of the US Congress | ||
| 2007 | American author and abolitionist, best known for writing Uncle Tom's Cabin | ||
| 2008 | Josephine Baker was an African American dancer, activist, and spy during World War II. She succeeded as a dancer in Vaudeville shows in the United States and participated in the Harlem Renaissance. She eventually moved to Paris, where she became a widely sought-after performer. Her performances used African themes and styles. During World War II, she helped the French military by passing on secrets she learned while performing.[19] | ||
| Women Cryptologists of World War II | 2022 | Honoring the around 11,000 women cryptologists of World War II who helped decipher enemy military messages.[20] | |
| Women's Soccer | 2023 | Celebrating women's soccer in the United States, from youth leagues to the world champion U.S. national team.[21] | |
| Toni Morrison | 2023 | Celebrated on a forever stamp, Toni Morrison was an award-winning author of 11 novels that brought to life the diverse voices of Black people and, in particular, centered the identity of Black women. [22] |