2008 Black Heritage Commemorative US stamp to be unveiled at WVU Parkersburg

2008 Black Heritage Commemorative United States postage stamp to be unveiled Feb. 4 at WVU Parkersburg.

CONTACT: Debbie Richards, special assistant to the president, 304-424-8201.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

The 2008 Black Heritage Commemorative United States postage stamp will be unveiled Monday (Feb. 4) in a special ceremony at West Virginia University at Parkersburg.

Co-sponsored by the WVU Parkersburg Social Justice Committee and the U.S. Postal Service in Parkersburg, the program will be held at 11:00 a.m. in the Community Room. The event is free and open to the public.

The 31st stamp in the Postal Service's Black Heritage series will honor Charles W. Chesnutt (1858—1932), a pioneering writer recognized today as a major innovator and singular voice among turn–of–the–century literary realists. In novels such as "The Marrow of Tradition" and short stories such as those collected in "The Conjure Woman," he probed the color line in American life.

WVU Parkersburg President Marie Foster Gnage will deliver a tribute to the stamp honoree.

The event is being held as part of the college's observance of Black History Month.