First Year A Native American Appeared On U. S. Stamp?

There are four classes of mail in the period of the first Native Americans on a US Postage stamp.

First Class (letters)
Second Class (Newspapers and other periodicals published on a schedule)
Third Class (printed matter, advertising, some merchandise)
Forth Class (all mail matter which does not fit into classes 1-3 above)

Prepayment of postage was required for all classes of mail. Regular postage stamps were accepted as payment for all listed classes of postage. Newspaper and Periodical stamps paid postage as well but were restricted in use to just second class matter postage.




Here is my read about this. For the Columbus Issues, one and ten cent, which the OP identified as showing Columbus with Native Americans, one must remember where it was than Columbus landed in the Americas. He did not make it to the mainland of either North nor South America, rather it is Bahama an island in the Caribbean. If those Indians are to be considered Native Americans, then the subject matter is not limited to just Indians of the lower 48 and Alaska. The island is part of North America which includes Canada, Greenland and Central America. For South America the preferred term is not Indian nor Native American, rather it is Indigenous.

As to the woman with fruit, fruit was growth throughout the Caribbean and Central America. That would be considered North America and thus inhabited with Native American. Only when production expanded to the Caribbean Coast of Columbia do we start to see contact and potential designs being from South America with it Indigenous not referred to as Native Americans.

The beyond argument Native Americans would be those for who we know their names, Running Antelope and Hollow Horn Bear the latter being on a postage stamps. However, the unknown of name Native American shown on the 4 cent Trans-Mississippi is Native American but not necessarily US as it could be a scene from very southern Canada as well. It really depends upon the notes of the first sketch used by Seth Eastman to complete his painting used as the stamp's model.

PPG, I did say Native American in the thread title and I think the Indian maiden on PR32 qualifies, even though she is allegorical. You are correct, that the indigenous people portrayed on the 10¢ Columbian would have been Taino, from the Caribbean. Luigi Gregori, who painted the original art, also was historically inaccurate, portraying them in the garb of American Plains indians. But with the allegorical Native Americans on the 1¢ Columbian, the intent there seems pretty clear that they were meant to represent North Americans.

Columbus did eventually reach the mainland coasts of both North and South America, btw, just not on his first voyage.

Nor were those voyages the subject of the 1492-1892 commemorative stamps series of 1893 nor 1992.


Edit:



The consensus definition of "Native American" is the indigenous peoples of the Americas, North and South.