A new U.S. Postal Service stamp honoring Upper Darby Quaker Thomas Garrett for his work in the Underground Railroad was unveiled at a ceremony March 9 in Church Creek, Maryland that included a speech told from Garret’s perspective presented by his descendant Bob Seeley from Havertown.
Garrett helped more than 2,700 people to freedom, including Harriet Tubman.
The Garrett stamp is part of a new Underground Railroad Stamp series that honors the men and women who helped end slavery in the United States, writes Max Bennett for Patch, as reported at MSN.com.
Seeley wrote a letter to the postal service more than 20 years ago requesting an Underground Railroad stamp that included input from then Sen. Joe Biden, Seeley said.
Ten men and women are being honored in the series.
The Forever stamps also honored Catharine Coffin, Frederick Douglass, Laura Haviland, Lewis Hayden, Harriet Jacobs, William Lambert, the Rev. Jermain Loguen, William Still, and Tubman.
Seeley has spent 35 years researching and lecturing about the Underground Railroad. His words are included on a Thomas Garrett Pennsylvania Historical Marker in Drexel Hill.
He also worked to get the National Park Service to recognize land in Arlington National Cemetery as an Underground Railroad site.
Read Seeley’s full speech at MSN.com.
