The USPS issued its first Kwanzaa stamp in 1997. The stamp appeared as part of the Postal Service’s Holiday Celebrations series, making Kwanzaa part of the nation’s commemorative holiday-stamp program.
The original design was created by Los Angeles artist Synthia Saint James. It featured Kwanzaa imagery associated with the holiday’s seven principles and symbols. USPS later reissued the design with new denominations, which can cause confusion between the original issue year and the years in which subsequent versions appeared.
Later Kwanzaa stamp designs were issued in 2004, 2009, 2011, 2013, 2016, and 2018. Those later dates are not alternatives to the first-issue date; they mark additional designs or releases. The year 1996 is also easy to mistake for the answer because artwork and copyright information connected with the first stamp appeared before its 1997 release.
Kwanzaa is observed from December 26 through January 1. Its imagery often includes the kinara, seven candles, the unity cup, corn, and first-fruits symbolism.