OBERLIN — The proud visage of Anna Julia Cooper — one of the first African-American women to graduate from Oberlin College — is proving to be popular on a postage stamp.

“They are selling very well — we’re almost out of them,” said Russell Walker, a clerk at the Oberlin post office. “Our customers are very excited.”

The Oberlin branch has put in another order, and the stamps also are available at other area post offices.

Walker, who is African-American, said his mother and aunts were very excited at the prospect of such a strong black woman on a stamp.

Cooper was born into slavery in 1858 before the Civil War and lived to the grand age of 106.

At the time she died in 1964, she could see the Civil Rights movement taking hold.

The U.S. Postal Service dedicated her stamp earlier this month at Washington, D.C.’s Paul Laurence Dunbar High School (previously M Street High School and the Preparatory High School for Colored Youth), where Cooper taught math and science and ultimately served as principal.

Her stamp is the 32nd in the Black Heritage series, which has previously featured Martin Luther King Jr., Harriet Tubman and Ella Fitzgerald.

“They typically tend to be one of our stronger-selling stamps throughout the year,” said Mark Saunders, spokesman for the postal service.

Cooper is perhaps best known for her groundbreaking collection of essays and speeches, “A Voice from the South by a Black Woman of the South.”

“The time is ripe for action,” she wrote, urging all readers to assume an active role in liberating themselves and others from both racism and sexism.

She encouraged the African-American community to take advantage of education and to develop and promote its own folklore, literature and artistic culture.

She also exhibited educational leadership, most notably challenging the racist notion that African-Americans were naturally inferior.

The 44-cent First-Class Anna Julia Cooper commemorative stamp features a portrait of her created by Kadir Nelson, of San Diego, who based his painting on an undated photograph.

Nationally, 125 million stamps, available in sheets of 20, are available.

Contact Cindy Leise at 329-7245 or cleise@chroniclet.com.

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