WALT WHITMAN
Posted: Mon Sep 11, 2017 8:26 pm
This stamp of Dahomey (now Benin) shows use the American poet Walt Whitman 1819-1892 see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walt_Whitman
Whitman was opposed of the slavery in the United States and that is most probably the reason that he is depict on a stamp of Dahomey. Many American black slaves were coming from that area.
In the foreground you see a pirogue loaded and poled by a man. A pirogue is a long narrow, fast native dugout canoe.
I believe the design of the stamp is made after Ganvie village https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ganvie in Lake Nokoué. All houses in this village are built in the lake on stilts except the school which is built on dry land.
Source: Internet.
Dahomey 1970 100f sg396, scott C119 (Whitman design is taken from the frontispiece “Leaves of Grass.)
Benin 1988 129/190f sg 1099/00, scott?
Whitman was opposed of the slavery in the United States and that is most probably the reason that he is depict on a stamp of Dahomey. Many American black slaves were coming from that area.
In the foreground you see a pirogue loaded and poled by a man. A pirogue is a long narrow, fast native dugout canoe.
I believe the design of the stamp is made after Ganvie village https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ganvie in Lake Nokoué. All houses in this village are built in the lake on stilts except the school which is built on dry land.
Source: Internet.
Dahomey 1970 100f sg396, scott C119 (Whitman design is taken from the frontispiece “Leaves of Grass.)
Benin 1988 129/190f sg 1099/00, scott?