IV 
114TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. RES. 33 
Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that the United States 
Postal Service should issue a commemorative stamp honoring the life 
of Maya Angelou. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JANUARY 14, 2015 
Mrs. BEATTY submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the 
Committee on Oversight and Government Reform 
RESOLUTION 
Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that 
the United States Postal Service should issue a com-
memorative stamp honoring the life of Maya Angelou. 
Whereas Dr. Maya Angelou, was born Marguerite Ann John-
son in St. Louis, Missouri, on April 4, 1928, and raised 
in Arkansas; 
Whereas Maya Angelou was a prominent and celebrated au-
thor, poet, educator, producer, actress, filmmaker, and 
civil rights activist; 
Whereas hailed for her talents as a performing artist at an 
early age, Maya Angelou toured Europe with a produc-
tion of the Gershwin opera Porgy and Bess in 1955 and 
released her first album in 1957; 
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•HRES 33 IH 
Whereas Maya Angelou was active in the civil rights move-
ment and was a personal friend of both Dr. Martin Lu-
ther King, Jr., and Malcolm X; 
Whereas Maya Angelou served as a leader of the Southern 
Christian Leadership Conference during the civil rights 
movement; 
Whereas in 1969, Maya Angelou wrote the autobiography ‘‘I 
Know Why the Caged Bird Sings’’, which catapulted her 
to international acclaim for its vivid and honest depiction 
of the experience of Black women in the Jim Crow era; 
Whereas Maya Angelou has published more than 30 best-sell-
ing titles, including her collection of poems, ‘‘Just Give 
Me a Cool Drink of Water ’fore I Diiie’’, which earned 
her a Pulitzer Prize nomination; 
Whereas Maya Angelou wrote the screenplay and composed 
the score for the 1972 film ‘‘Georgia, Georgia’’; her 
script, the first by an African-American woman to be 
filmed; 
Whereas Maya Angelou served in various capacities to several 
Presidents of the United States, including President Ger-
ald Ford, who appointed her to the American Revolution 
Bicentennial Commission, and President Jimmy Carter, 
who appointed her to serve on the Presidential Commis-
sion for the International Year of the Woman; 
Whereas Maya Angelou was the first African-American to 
serve as an Inaugural Poet, authoring and reciting the 
poem ‘‘On the Pulse of Morning’’ in 1993; 
Whereas Maya Angelou was a trailblazer in literature and po-
etry who bravely explored the ways in which socially 
marginalizing forces affected African-American women; 
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•HRES 33 IH 
Whereas Maya Angelou was honored with the Presidential 
Medal of Freedom in 2011, the Lincoln Medal in 2008, 
and the National Medal of Arts in 2000 for her excep-
tional contributions to American culture as an author 
and poet; 
Whereas Maya Angelou passed away on May 28, 2014, in her 
North Carolina home at age 86, leaving behind a legacy 
of literacy achievement and an indelible mark on the 
movement for civil rights; and 
Whereas issuing a postage stamp honoring Maya Angelou is 
fitting and proper: Now, therefore, be it 
Resolved, That it is the sense of the House of Rep-
resentatives that— 
(1) the Postmaster General should issue a com-
memorative postage stamp honoring Maya Angelou; 
and 
(2) such stamp should— 
(A) be issued in the denomination used for 
first-class mail up to 1 ounce in weight; 
(B) bear such illustration or picture as the 
Postmaster General determines; and 
(C) be placed in sale at such time and for 
such period as the Postmaster General deter-
mines. 
Æ 
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