If you guessed that Booker T. Washington was the first African American to appear on a US Postage Stamp you are absolutely right! Actually Booker T. Washington had a lot of “firsts”. I found out just tonight that he was the first African American to be invited to the White House.
But on April 7, 1940 The US Post Office actually issued a stamp honoring Booker T. Washington as part of a Famous Americans Series. It was, indeed, the very first stamp to honer an African American. The stamp was for 10 cents.
You can read more about the Booker T. Washington stamp from 1940 by clicking this link.
A 10 cent stamp was a high price during that time. Most people could easily afford to buy the lower price stamp which was three cents at the time. As a result, it received some criticism because it was not affordable by many of the African American community.