Moneta J. Sleet Jr. (February 14, 1926 – September 30, 1996) was an American press photographer best known for his work as a staff photographer for ''Ebony'' magazine. In 1969 he was awarded the

Pulitzer Prize for Feature Photography The Pulitzer Prize for Feature Photography is one of the American Pulitzer Prizes annually awarded for journalism. It recognizes a distinguished example of feature photography in black and white or color, which may consist of a photograph or phot ...

for his photograph of Coretta Scott King, Martin Luther King Jr.'s widow, at her husband's funeral. Sleet was the first African-American man to win the Pulitzer, and the first African American to win the award for journalism. He died of cancer in 1996 at the age of 70.

Early life and education

Sleet was born in

Owensboro, Kentucky Owensboro is a home rule-class city in and the county seat of Daviess County, Kentucky, United States. It is the fourth-largest city in the state by population. Owensboro is located on U.S. Route 60 and Interstate 165 about southwest of Lou ...

. He was editor of the school newspaper at Western High School, his ''alma mater''. He graduated ''

cum laude Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some Sou ...

'' from Kentucky State College (now

Kentucky State University Kentucky State University (KSU and KYSU) is a Public university, public Historically black colleges and universities, historically black land-grant university in Frankfort, Kentucky. Founded in 1886 as the State Normal School for Colored Persons ...

), a historically black college, in 1947 and went on to obtain a master's degree in journalism from New York University (NYU) in 1950. He also studied at the School of Modern Photography where he furthered his photography skills. During this same time Sleet served in an all-African American unit in World War II and was an assistant at a commercial operated studio. After his education at NYU he was a sports journalist for the '' Amsterdam News'' in New York and then

John P. Davis John Preston Davis (January 19, 1905 – September 11, 1973) was an American journalist, lawyer and activist intellectual, who became prominent for his work with the Joint Committee on National Recovery (JCNR). In 1935, he co-founded the ...

' magazine ''Our World''.

''Ebony'' magazine

Sleet began working for '' Ebony'' magazine in 1955. Over the next 41 years, he captured photos of young

Muhammad Ali Muhammad Ali (; born Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr.; January 17, 1942 – June 3, 2016) was an American professional boxer and activist. Nicknamed "The Greatest", he is regarded as one of the most significant sports figures of the 20th century, a ...

Dizzy Gillespie John Birks "Dizzy" Gillespie (; October 21, 1917 – January 6, 1993) was an American jazz trumpeter, bandleader, composer, educator and singer. He was a trumpet virtuoso and improviser, building on the virtuosic style of Roy Eldridge but addi ...

Stevie Wonder Stevland Hardaway Morris ( Judkins; May 13, 1950), known professionally as Stevie Wonder, is an American singer-songwriter, who is credited as a pioneer and influence by musicians across a range of genres that include rhythm and blues, Pop musi ...

, Haile Selassie,

Jomo Kenyatta Jomo Kenyatta (22 August 1978) was a Kenyan anti-colonial activist and politician who governed Kenya as its Prime Minister from 1963 to 1964 and then as its first President from 1964 to his death in 1978. He was the country's first indigenous ...

, former ambassador Andrew Young in a blue leather jacket and jeans in his office at the United Nations, Ghana's

Kwame Nkrumah Kwame Nkrumah (born 21 September 190927 April 1972) was a Ghanaian politician, political theorist, and revolutionary. He was the first Prime Minister and President of Ghana, having led the Gold Coast to independence from Britain in 1957. An in ...

, Liberia's William Tubman and Billie Holiday. He gained the affection and esteem of many civil rights leaders, many of whom called on him by name. When Coretta Scott King found out that no African American photographers had been assigned to cover her husband's funeral service, she demanded that Sleet be a part of the press pool. If he was not, she threatened to bar all photographers from the service. Besides his photo of Coretta Scott King, he also captured grieving widow Betty Shabazz at the funeral of her husband Malcolm X. A collection of his photographs in book form, ''Special Moments in African-American History, 1955-1996: the Photographs of Moneta Sleet, Jr., Ebony Magazine's Pulitzer Prize Winner'', was published posthumously in 1998.

Civil Rights Movement

During Sleet’s 41 years at ''Ebony'', he also worked by Martin Luther King Jr’s side for 13 years capturing historical moments of the civil rights movement. A famous image of Rosa Parks, MLK, Ralph Abernathy,

Ralph Bunche Ralph Johnson Bunche (; August 7, 1904 – December 9, 1971) was an American political scientist, diplomat, and leading actor in the mid-20th-century decolonization process and US civil rights movement, who received the 1950 Nobel Peace Prize f ...

, and Coretta Scott King leading marchers was captured by Moneta. He also captured images of MLK’s

I Have a Dream "I Have a Dream" is a public speech that was delivered by American civil rights activist and Baptist minister, Martin Luther King Jr., during the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom on August 28, 1963. In the speech, King called ...

speech at the Lincoln Memorial, the march from Selma to Montgomery, and the Montgomery bus boycott.

Personal life

Sleet married his wife Juanita in 1950 and had two sons and one daughter:

Gregory M. Sleet Gregory Moneta Sleet (born March 8, 1951 in New York City, New York) is a former United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Delaware. Education and career Sleet was born in New York City, New York. He r ...

, a judge who used to be on the United States District Court for the District of Delaware, Lisa, and Michael Sleet. Sleet was also a member of Sigma Pi Phi, the oldest African-American Greek-lettered organization, along with MLK. He was a part of an overseas press club so he took a lot of pictures of international world leaders. Sleet, while a resident of

Baldwin, New York Baldwin is a town in Chemung County, New York, United States. The population was 818 at the 2020 census. The town name is derived from Thomas and Waterman Baldwin, two of the earliest settlers of the area. The town is east of Elmira. It is part ...

, died of cancer at Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center on September 30, 1996.

References

External links