Presentation: The Photography of Moneta Sleet, Jr. from Ebony Magazine

Friday, 1/17/2025
11:00 - 12:00
Virtual Library

United States

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Delight in the life and photographic works of Moneta Sleet, Jr., staff photographer at Ebony magazine for over forty years.  

Jehoiada Calvin, Archivist at the Johnson Publishing Company (JPC) Archive, presents on the life and legacy of Pulitzer Prize winning photographer Moneta Sleet, Jr. (1926-1996). Starting in 1955, Sleet captured images of Black people in America and throughout the world for JPC magazines like Ebony and Jet and produced iconic images of the Civil Rights Movement, particularly of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. In 1969 Sleet became the first Black person to win a Pulitzer Prize, which was awarded for his photograph of Coretta Scott King at her husband’s funeral. Jehoiada shares images from the Archive of Sleet's published and unpublished work while exploring how his photographs have impacted visual culture and politics today. 

headshot of Jehoiada CalvinJehoiada Calvin is a memory worker, writer, and zine-maker from Chicago. Jehoiada is the Archives Assistant for the Johnson Publishing Company Archive, helping to process the historic photograph collection for Ebony, Jet, and other magazines and programs. Jehoiada is a fellow in the University of Alabama’s Social Justice for Archivists Master of Library and Information Studies program, focusing on memory work that supports practices rooted in culture and politics outside of institutional archives. Read his writings about Sleet and the JPC photo archive at Sixty Inches from Center. 

Connect

Johnson Publishing Company Archive – Website  

Jehoiada Calvin – X/Twitter  

Ebony Magazine Digital Archive – Courtesy of SFPL

Jet Magazine Digital Archive – Courtesy of SFPL

Header image of Geoffrey Holder by Moneta Sleet, Jr. from the Johnson Publishing Company Archive. Courtesy J. Paul Getty Trust and Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture. Made possible by the Ford Foundation, J. Paul Getty Trust, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, and Smithsonian Institution.

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This program is sponsored by Friends of the San Francisco Public Library.

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This program will be conducted in English unless otherwise noted.

Notice: This event may be filmed or photographed. By participating in this event, you consent to have your likeness used for the Library’s archival purposes and promotional materials. If you do not want to be photographed, please inform a staff person or the photographer. A sticker will be provided to help identify you so that we can avoid capturing your image.

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