Pittsburgh playwright August Wilson to be honored with Forever Stamp

Stamp collectors soon can grab a piece of Pittsburgh history with a new Forever Stamp honoring legendary playwright August Wilson.

The U.S. Postal Service will dedicate the stamp Jan. 28, the first day of its release, with a virtual ceremony on its Twitter and Facebook pages.

The stamp will be the 44th in the Postal Service’s Black Heritage series, which debuted in 1978 with a stamp featuring Harriet Tubman. The annual series features a wide variety of prominent Black Americans, including Martin Luther King Jr., Jackie Robinson and Ella Fitzgerald.

Wilson is best known for “The Pittsburgh Cycle,” a series of 10 plays based on his experience growing up in the city — though he lived in St. Paul, Minn., and Seattle when he wrote them.

Though he died in 2005 at 60, Wilson has made plenty of headlines recently. He got a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in June. His play “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” was adapted into a film, shot in Pittsburgh, which will be released on Netflix Dec. 18. The film features the final appearance of the late Chadwick Boseman, who died of colon cancer in August.

Pittsburgh’s August Wilson African American Cultural Center announced a new exhibit exploring the playwright’s life in Pittsburgh, and the University of Pittsburgh Library System acquired Wilson’s archive in October.

Wilson is the second local luminary recently honored with a Forever Stamp. The Postal Service released an Arnold Palmer stamp in March.

Collectors will be able to preorder stamps at usps.com/shopstamps, though the August Wilson stamp was not listed as of Thursday.