About This Stamp
With these stamps, the U.S. Postal Service commemorates the 50th anniversary of the passage of Title IX, a civil rights law prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sex from any educational program or activity receiving federal financial assistance. Title IX was passed as a clause in the Education Amendments of 1972. The artwork features four unique designs, each a dark blue silhouette of a woman’s face in profile. The digital illustrations of the four women represent female athletes, specifically a runner, a swimmer, a gymnast, and a soccer player. Yellow laurel branches, symbolic of victory, rest in their hair and on the swimmer’s cap. “Title IX” appears written across the women’s cheeks, intended as an empowering message about the inclusion of women and girls in all educational settings. U.S. Representative Patsy T. Mink of Hawai‘i was the principal author of a section of a House bill that became Title IX. The first woman of color and the first Asian American woman elected to the House of Representatives, Mink was a tireless champion of women’s rights and the rights of people of color. Mink worked with Representative Edith Green and Senator Birch Bayh in 1971 to write and sponsor legislation in both chambers of Congress addressing discrimination against women in education. After some negotiation between the two chambers, the Education Amendments were passed and signed into law by President Richard M. Nixon on June 23, 1972. Thirty years later, shortly after Mink’s death, Title IX was renamed the Patsy T. Mink Equal Opportunity in Education Act in tribute to her enormous contributions in furthering equity in education. In the 50 years since its passage, Title IX has been applied widely at elementary, secondary, and post-secondary institutions. The law covers a wide range of programs and resources. Additionally, Title IX prohibits sexual harassment, including sexual assault, dating violence, domestic violence, and stalking occurring on school campuses or within school programs or activities. Title IX has had the most visible impact on school athletics. The year before the law was enacted, around 300,000 girls participated in high school sports, which accounted for less than 10 percent of all participants in high school athletics. Women’s sports were all but invisible on college and university campuses, receiving very little of the funding and none of the recognition of their male counterparts. Title IX created pathways for enriching women’s athletics programs, allowing for a wider range of competitive sports offerings, more robust physical education regimens, and equal spaces to play. Fifty years after its passage, Title IX continues to evolve. The ongoing need to address discrimination on the basis of sex in educational programs and activities provides opportunities to better serve students, despite economic, cultural, geographic, and other barriers. Title IX has impacted generations of young people in the United States, and the work to provide protections for even more in the future continues. Artist Melinda Beck designed the stamps. Derry Noyes served as art director. The Title IX stamps are being issued as Forever® stamps. These Forever stamps will always be equal to the current First-Class Mail® one-ounce price.
Stamp Art Director
Derry Noyes
For more than 40 years Derry Noyes has designed and provided art direction for close to 800 United States postage stamps and stamp products. She holds a bachelor of arts degree from Hampshire College and a master of fine arts degree from Yale University.
Noyes worked as a graphics designer at Beveridge and Associates, a Washington, D.C., firm, until 1979 when she established her own design firm, Derry Noyes Graphics. Her clients have included museums, corporations, foundations, and architectural and educational institutions. Her work has been honored by American Illustration, the Art Directors Club of Metropolitan Washington, Communication Arts, Critique magazine, Graphis, Creativity International, and the Society of Illustrators.
Before becoming an art director for the U.S. Postal Service, she served as a member of the Citizens' Stamp Advisory Committee from 1981 to 1983.
Noyes is a resident of Washington, D.C.
Stamp Designer, Stamp Artist
Melinda Beck
Melinda Beck grew up in New York City and attended the Rhode Island School of Design, where she graduated summa cum laude in graphic design. Beck has worked as an illustrator, animator, and graphic designer for more than 25 years. In that time, she has created work for clients that include Harvard Business Review, Nickelodeon, Nike, The New Yorker, Random House, and Time magazine. She has received numerous awards, including two Emmy nominations and medals from the Society of Illustrators. A series of her prints was acquired by the Library of Congress for its permanent collection. Beck recently completed a series of murals for the interior of the New York Public Library’s newly renovated circulating branch, the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Library. In addition to her artistic work, Beck has also served as the vice president for ICON9: The Illustration Conference, taught at Parsons School of Design, and been a visiting lecturer at a variety of institutions around the globe. Beck lives in New York City with her two teenage daughters. Title IX (2022) is her first project for the Postal Service.