Sleet won the 1969 Pulitzer Prize for Feature Photography for his photograph of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s widow, Coretta Scott King, at Dr. King’s funeral.

His major contribution to photojournalism was his extensive documentation of the Civil Rights movement. Born in Owensboro, Kentucky, Moneta Sleet’s interest in photography began as a child. He pursued photography at Kentucky State College and received his master’s degree in Journalism from New York University in 1950. He later joined Ebony Magazine as staff photographer.

Read a 1986 NY Times article on Sleet by C. Gerald Fraser titled “The Vision of Moneta Sleet in Show.“