Moneta J. Sleet, Jr., was born in Owensboro and graduated from Ky. State College and New York Univ. Beginning in 1955, he worked as a photojournalist for Jet and Ebony magazines for 41 years. During the 1950s-60s, his photographs documented the African struggle for independence and the American civil rights movement, and he inspired a generation of photographers. As a friend of civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr., he covered the Selma to Montgomery (Ala.) March and later King's Nobel Peace Prize ceremony. In 1969, he won the Pulitzer Prize for his photograph of Coretta Scott King at Dr. King's funeral, becoming the first African American photographer to receive the award. His work has been part of numerous museum exhibitions.