Moneta J. Sleet, Jr. Historical Marker
Introduction
Text-to-speech Audio
Moneta J. Sleet Jr. was the first African- American to win a Pulitzer Prize for Feature Photography in 1969. His prize-winning photograph featured a forlorn Coretta Scoot King holding her five-year-daughter at the funeral of her husband, and civil rights icon Martin Luther King Jr. Sleet Jr. was employed as a longtime press photographer for Ebony magazine where he often depicted the African-American struggle for civil rights during the 1950s and 1960s.
Images
This marker commemorates Moneta Sleet who believed in the power of photography, a force that could raise the American consciousness of racial prejudice in the country.
Backstory and Context
Text-to-speech Audio
Moneta J. Sleet Jr. was born in Owensboro, Kentucky on February 14th, 1924. Sleet Jr. is said to have developed a love for photography from the moment he received a box camera as a young child. While attending Kentucky State College as a business major, Sleet Jr. obtains a job as an assistant for a commercial studio where his passion for photography was reignited.
Moneta Sleet would eventually obtain a master’s degree in journalism from New York State University. In 1955, Sleet joined Ebony, a Black-owned magazine based in Chicago. One of his first assignments was to follow a young political organizer named Dr. Martin Luther King.
Moneta Sleet would eventually obtain a master’s degree in journalism from New York State University. In 1955, Sleet joined Ebony, a Black-owned magazine based in Chicago. One of his first assignments was to follow a young political organizer named Dr. Martin Luther King.