Kwanzaa 2024 (Sheet of 20) First-Class Mail Forever Postage Stamps

The U.S. Postal Service celebrates Kwanzaa with a stamp issuance in 2024. The annual Pan-African holiday, observed each year from December 26 to January 1, brings together family, community, and culture.

Rendered as a digital collage, the artwork depicts three young performers: a male drummer and, behind and to either side of him, two female dancers. He wears a dark blue, green, and orange kufi, a white shirt, and pants with a geometric black-and-white mud cloth-like pattern. His djembe, blue with a white drumhead, hangs from his neck by a red strap. The two dancers wear orange dresses and gold jewelry. One has a red hair band. All three figures have silhouetted black skin and hair. The floor beneath their feet is diamond-patterned in shades of green, while the background features triangles in shades of red. Each dancer extends a knee and a bit of orange skirt beyond the image frame, into the white margin of the stamp.

Kwanzaa is intended to help unify African Americans from a wide array of religious and cultural backgrounds. It draws on a variety of African traditions, deriving its name from the Swahili phrase matunda ya kwanza, meaning “first fruits.” With origins in ancient and modern first-harvest festivities occurring across the African continent, Kwanzaa incorporates and reimagines many of these communal traditions as a contemporary celebration and reaffirmation of African American culture. Each day of Kwanzaa is dedicated to one of its seven principles: Unity (Umoja), Self-Determination (Kujichagulia), Collective Work and Responsibility (Ujima), Cooperative Economics (Ujamaa), Purpose (Nia), Creativity (Kuumba), and Faith (Imani). The Kwanzaa colors—black, red, and green—represent, respectively, the Pan-African people, the struggles they have endured through time, and the hope for a better future born from these struggles.

Celebrate a holiday that brings together family, community, and culture with the Kwanzaa stamp.Inspired by a live performance during a Kwanzaa event, the stamp design features a male drummer and 2 female dancers and highlights the colors of the Pan-African flag — black, red, and green — and West African designs, for example on the floor, background, and drummer’s pants.The Kwanzaa stamps are being issued as Forever stamps. These Forever stamps will always be equal in value to the current FirstClass Mail one-ounce rate.