The 42nd stamp in the Black Heritage series honors Gregory Hines (1946–2003), whose unique style of tap dancing injected new artistry and excitement into a traditional American form. The stamp features a 1988 photograph by Jack Mitchell that shows a smiling Hines on one knee in a red blazer and grey pants, with one foot raised to show the taps on the bottom of his shoe.

Often dancing while hunched over, legendary tap dancer Hines (1946–2003) performed riffs much like a jazz drummer, staggering and breaking up the rhythm, changing tempo in the middle of a dance, or abruptly altering the emotion or mood. With his intense, offbeat style, which he liked to call “improvography,” Hines developed the entertainment traditions of tap dancing into an art form for a younger generation, giving tap newly expanded physical and emotional freedoms that would allow it to thrive in the new millennium.