On Febrary 21, the third single of Distinguished Americans revealed to honor Hattie W. Caraway, the first woman elected to the United States Senate. the 76c self-adhesive definitive satisfies the new domestic first-class rate for a 3-ounce letter (34c¢ for the first ounce plus 21c for each additional ounce) effective from Jan 7, 2001.

the Distinguished Americans series began in summer 2000 with the release of the 10c Joseph W. Stilwell stamp on Aug. 24 and the 33c Claude Pepper stamp on Sep. 7. The new issue, altought along with the two predecessors, are all bicolor design dominated by a central portrait,  is self-adhesive, different from the water-activated adhesive adopted to the two others. This abrupt change in gum for the new Distinguished Americans definitive recognizes the U.S. public's overwhelming desire since 1994 for peel-and-stick stamps.

Hattie Ophelia Wyatt Caraway, 1878-1950, born and brought up near Bakerville Tenn, a teacher and then housewife until her fifties, was thrust suddenly into the public spotlight shortly after the unexpected death of her husband, Thaddeus H. Caraway, a former lawer, and then congressman and U.S. senator from Arkansas,  in late 1931. Caraway was appointed by Arkansas Gov. Harvey Parnell to fill her husband's vacant seat on Nov. 13, 1931. This appointment made Caraway the second woman -- after Rebecca Latimer Felton in 1922 -- to be seated in the U.S. Senate. Unlike Caraway, Felton's time in the Senate was short-lived, as she served a courtesy appointment for just one day. After a special election held Jan. 12, 1932, Caraway's appointment was confirmed,  thus making her the first woman elected to the U.S. Senate. In 1938, She was elected to a second six-year term and finished her public service in 1944.

Caraway's 12 years in the Senate were marked by a quiet, serious dignity that earned her the nickname "Silent Hattie." Nonetheless, her dry wit and down-home expressions endeared her to the public.  Caraway was supportive of New Deal and other legislative initiatives of the Roosevelt administration. She also supported veterans and organized labor and opposed isolationism. Caraway was the first woman to chair a Senate committee and to preside over the Senate in the absence of the vice president and the president pro tempore (the presiding officer of the Senate).  In 1943, she became the first woman in Congress to co-sponsor the Equal Rights Amendment.  President Roosevelt appointed Caraway to the Federal Employees' Compensation Commission, and later to the Employees' Compensation Appeals Board.