The U.S. Postal Service unveiled a new limited edition forever stamp honoring the renowned poet and author Maya Angelou.
The postal service hosted a ceremony Tuesday at the Warner Theatre in Washington to dedicate the stamp.
Oprah Winfrey was speaking during the event power went out there as part of a series of outages across a wide swath of downtown Washington, D.C., and Maryland. Winfrey continued her speech despite the outage, but moments later Secret Service agents escorted first lady Michelle Obama out of the theater.
The Angelou stamp showcases the artwork of Atlanta artist Ross Rossin. His oil painting of Angelou is part of the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery collection and is being displayed until Nov. 1. Rossin said the goal of his art is to transcend hyperrealism.
But there is some controversy over the quote attributed to Angelou on the stamp. It reads: "A bird doesn't sing because it has an answer, it sings because it has a song.'' A former editor for The Washington Post’s Book World did some research on the quote and found it may have been written by Joan Walsh Anglund first.
The postal service said the quote came up in several different interview Angelou did.
Art director Ethel Kessler of Bethesda, Maryland, designed the stamp.
Angelou died last May at age 86.
