The Postal Service issued a 34-cent Langston Hughes commemorative stamp in a self-adhesive pane of twenty in New York, New York, on February 1, 2002. The stamp, designed by Richard Sheaff of Scottsdale, Arizona, went on sale nationwide February 2, 2002.The Langston Hughes stamp was the 25th stamp in the Black Heritage Series, honoring Hughes on the centennial of his birth. Although he was considered a poet first, Hughes wrote in many literary genres, ranging from short stories to drama. His innovative poetry combined jazz, blues, and the black vernacular with the traditions of poetry in English. Hughes is now considered one of the most important American writers of the twentieth century.The Banknote Corporation of America printed 120 million stamps in the offset process with microprinting