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On November 13, 1997, the "Great Writers of the 20th Century" stamps were officially issued in a ceremony at the Smithsonian Institution's Hirshhorn Museum in Washington DC. Most of the living honorees and families of the authors attended.
Excerpt from the Washington Post (November 14, 1997) - "My heart stopped....I was bowled over," poet Maya Angelou said yesterday, glimpsing her image on a stamp from Ghana. She was among 12 African American writers honored at the Hirshhorn Museum as Ghana and Uganda unveiled the stamps.
Also seeing their stamps for the first time were Charles Johnson, Rita Dove, Mari Evans and June Jordan. "I have had two thrills today: being on a stamp is one and to sit next to Rita Dove and Maya Angelou is the other," said Johnson, who wrote the acclaimed novel Middle Passage."