On January 27, 2000 in Washington, DC, the U.S. Postal Service issued these Patricia Roberts Harris self-adhesive 33¢ stamps - the 23rd issuance in the Black Heritage stamp series. The stamp art is a black-and-white reprint of a color photograph taken of Patricia Roberts Harris during her term as Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). The photograph was taken in the late 1970s by David Valdez, then a staff photographer at HUD.

Patricia Roberts Harris (1924-1985) graduated summa cum laude from Howard University in 1945 and earned a law degree (graduating first in her class) from George Washington University National Law Center in 1960. She was the first African-American woman to serve as a U.S. ambassador, when President Lyndon B. Johnson named her ambassador to Luxembourg in 1965. She was appointed dean of Howard University School of Law in 1969 (the first woman to serve in this position); and was also the first African-American woman to serve as a member of a presidential Cabinet, when President Jimmy Carter appointed her Secretary of Housing and Urban Development; in 1975, and two years later, appointed Harris to her second Cabinet post, Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare. Throughout her multifaceted career, Patricia Roberts Harris gave special attention to the needs of the disadvantaged, and distinguished herself as an advocate of fairness and equity for all Americans.