"ASTORIA - In May 2023, Cliff Taylor walked into the Astoria post office, a grand neoclassical building that fills a downtown city block. A fan of old-fashioned mail, Taylor often comes here to send books and postcards to friends. But that morning, something stopped him short - a large poster on the wall showing his ancestor, Chief Standing Bear, gazing out from the newest U.S. Forever stamp."
"For Taylor, Ponca poet, writer, and storyteller, the moment carried both pride and reckoning - the convergence of public recognition and private memory. His great-great-grandfather was no ordinary figure: Chief Standing Bear (c. 1829-1908) was the Ponca leader whose 1879 court case first established that a Native American was a "person" under U.S. law. That case became a landmark in American civil rights."
""I don't know what you'd call it," he said. "A big advertisement of Chief Standing Bear - his postage stamp on the wall. It was incredibly moving, surreal, and just beautiful to me.""
Cliff Taylor visited the Astoria post office in May 2023 and saw a poster featuring his ancestor, Chief Standing Bear, on a U.S. Forever stamp. Chief Standing Bear (c. 1829-1908) led the Ponca and won an 1879 court decision that established that a Native American was legally a "person." The Ponca endured a forced removal by the U.S. Army that killed many, including the chief's daughter and son. Standing Bear led a return north, was arrested, and his trial produced a landmark civil rights ruling. The Postal Service printed 18 million stamps honoring the chief, an emotional restoration for descendants.
Read at Oregon ArtsWatch * Arts & Culture News
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