Anger as Royal Mail rejects black actor Ira Aldridge for 2007 Bicentenary stamp issue
// 25/04/2006 // Deborah Gabriel // Copyright © www.blackbritain.co.uk









This bust of Othello by Calvi Pietro in 1874 was said to be modelled on Ira Aldridge. The original cast dated 1868 held in South Africa was done a year after Aldridge's death, probably as a tribute. Black Victorians exhibition 2005.

The anger and disappointment at the Royal mail snub is felt all the more because July 2007 also marks the Bicentenary of the birth of Aldridge, who also featured as one of the 100 Great Black Britons.

On hearing that the Royal Mail planned to mark the Bicentenary of the Parliamentary Abolition of the Slave Trade with a stamp issue, historian Oku Ekpenyon, a member of the Black and Asian Studies Association (BASA) contacted the Royal Mail to suggest Ira Aldridge as a worthy figure to be featured.

Writing to Russell Hawkins, the Stamp Product Manager of the philatelic section, Ekpenyon pointed out that Aldridge, who was born a free black man in the USA but later became a British Citizen, was a positive figure who "spoke up for respect for the African race" and faced opposition in his career by pro-slavers of the time.

She added: "It would compliment the stamps already planned by focusing on the achievement of a person of African heritage in his Bicentenary year."

But the Royal Mail does not share this view and wrote back saying that it intends to focus on the abolitionists. Hawkins response said: "As you are aware the set will focus on the abolitionists themselves and the Royal Mail has conducted research to assess the proposed approach to this set of stamps, as well as consulting key experts in this field."

Hawkins went on to say that Aldridge was not considered for inclusion because he was born after the Parliamentary Abolition of the Slave Trade received royal assent in 1807.

There was also a request by Ekpenyon for the Royal Mail to issue a stamp at short notice - even though it is still a year until the Bicentenary - as it has done in the past such as last year's stamp commemorating the Ashes victory. But the Royal Mail also declined that request. Hawkins wrote:

"Unfortunately Aldridge does not fit into this category, therefore the Royal Mail will not be issuing stamps to commemorate this event." According to the Royal Mail, such stamps are designed to "capture the mood of the nation at that moment in time," which it said is not the case with Ira Aldridge's Bicentenary.

The Royal Mail's stance raises pertinent questions such as whose Bicentenary is it and who gets to decide who and what is celebrated? Audrey Edwards, another BASA member wrote in reply : "Key experts? Who are these people?"

Ekpenyon told Black Britain: "I just thought here is this man who had achieved so much in the face of such adversity.he is regarded by many as one of the greatest classical actors in the last 200 years."