The United States Postal Service on Thursday will honor the late folk singer Pete Seeger with a new commemorative stamp. The Pete Seeger stamp is the latest addition to the USPS’s ongoing Music Icons series, which includes commemorative stamps in honor of Marvin Gaye and John Lennon, as well as tributes to genres like hip hop, mariachi and tap dance.

Seeger, a folk singer and social activist, was born into a musical family in New York in 1919. He first emerged as a member of the Weavers, performing folk classics. In the 1960s, Seeger’s career intersected with the folk revival and the decade’s protest movement; his songs addressed such important topics as workers’ rights, environmental causes, and civil rights; in fact, Seeger’s popularization of the hymn “We Shall Overcome” helped it become an anthem of the civil rights movement in the United States. Other popular songs performed by Seeger include such beloved pieces as “Turn Turn Turn!” and “If I Had a Hammer.” Active his entire life, Seeger continued to perform into his 90s. His final concert took place in November 2013, and he died on January 27, 2014, at age 94.

Looking at the new stamp in his honor, one can almost hear Seeger’s singing and banjo. The featured image is a color-tinted version of a black-and-white photograph taken of Seeger onstage in the 1960s by his son, Dan Seeger. Digital artist Kristen Monthei retouched and colorized the image, and art director Antonio Alcalá oversaw the complete design. The stamps will be sold in sheets that resemble a 45 rpm single in a sleeve, much like the 2019 commemorative stamp honoring Marvin Gaye.

The Pete Seeger stamp will be available for purchase in post offices and online starting July 21. The release of the stamp will be celebrated with a first-day-of-issue ceremony in Newport, R.I., presented by Newport Folk. The ceremony will take place at the beginning of a concert honoring Pete Seeger.

In May 2014, a concert was held in at the Fitzgerald Theater in St. Paul, Minn., in honor of the late Pete Seeger. The event was hosted by folksinger and activist Larry Long. You can listen to that concert in two parts using the audio players below.

External Links

Pete Seeger - Smithsonian Folkways

United States Postal Service - official site