Deep Sorrow
1969 Pulitzer Prize, Feature Photography, Moneta Sleet, Ebony Magazine
Moneta Sleet is there in 1955 when Martin Luther King Jr., organizes the Montgomery, Ala., bus boycott. He is there in 1964 when King wins the Nobel Peace Prize. He is there in 1965 when King leads the march from Selma to Montgomery, and he is there on April 9, 1968, when the nation mourns the great civil rights leader at the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta.
It has been just five days since a snipers bullet killed the civil rights leader. Coretta Scott King has discovered that the pool of journalists covering her husband's funeral does not include a black photographer. She sends word: If Moneta Sleet is not allowed into the church, there will be no photographers.
Sleet cakes a prime position, close to the family "I looked over and saw Mrs. King consoling her daughter. I was photographing the child as she was fidgeting on her mamas lap. Professionally I was doing what I had been trained to do, and I was glad of that because I was very involved emotionally. If I hadn't been there working, I would have been off crying like everybody else."