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Sun, 02.14.1926

Moneta Sleet, Photographer born

Moneta Sleet

*On this date, in 1926, Moneta Sleet Jr. was born. He was a Black photographer.

From Owensboro, KY, he began taking photographs after his parents gave him an old box camera. After graduating from high school, Sleet attended Kentucky State College, and later, he relocated to New York City. It was there that he earned an M.A. in journalism from NYU. In 1955, Sleet joined the staff at Ebony Magazine, covering many prominent moments of the Civil Rights Movement, the Nobel Peace Prize, and other world events.

Sleets’ photos have been exhibited in many museums and libraries. In 1969, he was the first Black to receive a Pulitzer Prize in journalism for his photo of Coretta Scott King at the funeral of her husband, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. He wrote Special Moments in African American History: The photographs of Moneta Sleet, Jr. 1955-1996, which was published in 1999. Moneta Sleet died on September 30, 1996, in New York City.

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