Muhammad Ali will be honored with a commemorative U.S. postage stamp, with a first-day-of-issue ceremony planned for Thursday in Louisville, Kentucky, where Ali was born and where the Muhammad Ali Center is located. The stamp, called the “Muhammad Ali Forever Stamp,” will be available for purchase at the ceremony and will feature a black-and-white Associated Press photo of Ali in a boxing pose taken in 1974.
Lonnie Ali, Muhammad Ali’s wife of nearly 30 years, said she is excited about seeing his image on a stamp because it offers a way to keep his legacy in people’s awareness. In remarks to the Associated Press, she said that when people look at the stamp they will remember him, and that she views it as a chance to reinforce the messaging she links to his life of connection.
The stamp is being issued in a Forever-stamp format, meaning the First-Class Mail postage value will remain valid. Lonnie Ali described this as an “ultimate” tribute, saying the stamp will be part of Ali’s legacy and that it would be among the “shining stars” of that legacy.
The design will include more than a single image. Each sheet of 20 stamps also features a photo of Ali posing in a pinstripe suit that recognizes his work as an activist and humanitarian. USPS officials said 22 million stamps have been printed, and once they sell out the stamps will not be reprinted.
USPS director of stamp services Lisa Bobb-Semple said the idea for an Ali stamp emerged soon after Ali’s death nearly a decade ago, though the process of creating a stamp takes time. She said USPS requires people who appear on stamps to be dead for at least three years, with the exception of presidents. She also described how a friend of Ali helped spark public interest through the #GetTheChampAStamp campaign while USPS worked behind the scenes to develop the stamp.
Bobb-Semple said the Citizen Stamps Advisory Committee, which is appointed by the postmaster general, helps select what appears on U.S. postage stamps. She said the committee meets quarterly with her and her team to review suggestions submitted by the public, and that there are typically about 20 to 25 commemorative stamp issues each year.
After an idea is selected, Bobb-Semple and her team work with art directors to design the stamps, followed by a final approval process that includes a legal review by USPS staff. Antonio Alcalá, the art director and designer of the Muhammad Ali stamp, said hundreds of images were reviewed before the final selections were narrowed, and that the Associated Press image was chosen after that process.
Beyond boxing, Ali was known for public remarks about war, race, religion and civil rights. Born Cassius Clay Jr., he changed his name after converting to Islam in the 1960s and, in 1967, refused to be inducted into the U.S. Army, citing religious beliefs and opposition to the Vietnam War. The position cost him his heavyweight championship title and kept him out of boxing for more than three years, and he was sentenced after being convicted of draft evasion before the conviction was overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1971.
Later in life, Ali became known internationally for humanitarian work and used his fame to promote peace, religious understanding and charitable causes even as Parkinson’s disease limited his speech and movement. Lonnie Ali said she believes Ali would have “block[ed] a lot of this out” if he were alive today, and she said she wants people to mobilize his approach by engaging in acts of kindness and compassion.
As the stamp is unveiled, the Postal Service’s commemorative process places Ali’s image within a broader tradition of using stamps to highlight heroes, achievements and milestones—while also shaping how Americans encounter his legacy in everyday mail.