Journalist Gwen Ifill honored with Forever Stamp

Gwen Ifill of the “PBS NewsHour” speaks onstage at a panel during the 2012 Summer TCA Tour in Los Angeles. | Getty Images

WASHINGTON — In the historic black church where she worshipped, the late journalist Gwen Ifill was remembered with a new Black Heritage stamp in a ceremony featuring dignitaries of the church, politics and journalism.

Speakers at the event Jan. 30 at Metropolitan African Methodist Episcopal Church took turns describing Ifill’s courage in defying expectations and praised her faith-fueled ability to serve as a mentor to young journalists who followed in her footsteps.

A postal worker holds a book of Gwen Ifill Black Heritage Commemorative Forever Stamps during a Postal Service ceremony at the Metropolitan African Methodist Episcopal Church in Washington.

“The founders of imperial America never intended for Gwen to be Gwen,” the Rev. William H. Lamar IV, pastor of Metropolitan AME Church, told the hundreds gathered for the Forever stamp ceremony. “But the founders of the African Methodist Episcopal Church did intend for Gwen to be Gwen and for a million Gwens to follow Gwen Ifill.”

Deputy Postmaster General Ronald A. Stroman said the U.S. Postal Service considered many settings for the ceremony for the 43rd stamp in its Black Heritage series but determined the Washington church was the appropriate venue.

“Her faith grounded her,” he said just before unveiling a supersize version of the stamp before the large cross at the front of the sanctuary. “It gave her strength and informed the values that guided her life.”

Ifill, the first African American and first woman to moderate a major television news-analysis show, died at age 61 in 2016 after a cancer diagnosis. She was the moderator and managing editor of “Washington Week” and senior political correspondent for “The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer.”

Ifill became co-anchor of the “PBS NewsHour,” part of the first all-female team to anchor a national nightly news program. Earlier in her career, she worked for newspapers including The Washington Post and The New York Times.

Sherrilyn Ifill, president of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, said the addition of her cousin to the list of stamp honorees — who range from Harriet Tubman to Marvin Gaye — has elevated her from the days as a preacher’s daughter when faith and excellence in school were the priorities, and not parties or fashionable clothes.

“The expectation was clearly defined and being cool was not on the agenda,” Sherrilyn Ifill said. “But today Gwen is the coolest.”

Read more at usatoday.com