Legendary journalist, Queens native Gwen Ifill honored with ‘forever’ stamp

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Gwen Ifill shakes hands with 2008 vice presidential nominee, Sen. Joe Biden at the end of his vice presidential debate with Republican rival, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin. AP Photo/Don Emmert, Pool.

Gwen Ifill shakes hands with 2008 vice presidential nominee, Sen. Joe Biden at the end of his vice presidential debate with Republican rival, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin. AP Photo/Don Emmert, Pool.

By Jonathan Sperling

Esteemed journalist and author Gwen Ifill will be honored with a “forever” stamp as part of the U.S. Postal Service’s Black Heritage series, the agency announced Tuesday.

Ifill, born in Jamaica, Queens, was a trailblazing newscaster best known for her work with PBS. She became the first African-American woman to host a major U.S. political talk show when she began leading "Washington Week in Review" in 1999. She also worked as a senior correspondent for PBS NewsHour and moderated the 2004 and 2008 vice-presidential debates.

“These miniature works of art offer something for everyone interested in American history and culture,” U.S. Postal Service Stamp Services Acting Executive Director William Gicker said of the Forever Stamp Program. 

“From notable figures such as golf legend Arnold Palmer and esteemed journalist Gwen Ifill to the cultural phenomenon of hip hop to a celebration of the great outdoors, this program is wide-ranging and adds to the history of our great nation as recorded through the U.S. stamp program.”

Ifill’s stamp, which will be issued in 2020, features a headshot photo of her taken in 2008 by photographer Robert Severi. Postal Service Art Director Derry Noyes designed the stamp.

Early in her career, Ifill worked for The Baltimore Evening Sun as a local politics reporter, before being hired by The Washington Post in 1984 and covering her first presidential campaign. In 1991, Ifill joined The New York Times, becoming a White House correspondent and covering Bill Clinton’s 1992 presidential campaign.

Ifill was also an author, having written “The Breakthrough: Politics and Race in the Age of Obama,” published the day of President Barack Obama’s 2009 inauguration.

She died on Nov. 14, 2016 at age 61 after battling cancer.

Other stamps featured in the Postal Service’s Black Heritage series honor dancer and actor Gregory Hines, civil rights leader Dorothy Height, minister and educator Richard Allen, and architect Robert Robinson Taylor. Ifill’s photo appears on the 43rd stamp in the Black Heritage series.