Don’t Wait On Others To Tell You How Good You Are – Tell yourself and do the WORK!

Photographer, Moneta J. Sleet Jr. 1969 Pulitzer Prize winning image.

Who was Moneta Sleet?  Moneta  J. Sleet Jr. was the first African American to win Pulitzer Prize Feature Award in 1969 for the image we all know but many didn’t know who took it.  Mr. Sleet was deeply involved in the Civil Rights Movement and his covering of The Movement wasn’t an assignment but rather he was an activist.  He said, “I wasn’t there as an objective reporter….I had something to say.”

The story goes something like this.  As they were clearing the press core to cover the funeral of Dr. Martin L. King Jr., word got back to Mrs. Coretta Scott King that there were no African American journalists covering her husband’s funeral.  She sends word: If Moneta Sleet is not allowed into the church, there will be no photographers.”

In 1955 Sleet became a staff photographer for Ebony magazine.  It is interesting to me how the photographers for Life magazine are celebrated as masters in the field while the Ebony photographers are seldom if ever mentioned.  We know the names of the great Life photographers and they are standards in our field but not the Ebony photographers.  Why is that? 

Sleet covered our struggle as one who felt the pictures he was taking.  I have concluded that is difficult for people who don’t understand or appreciate you and your people’s contribution to then affirm you or see what you bring to the table.  This is why it is so hard to get organizations to see the asset in diversity.  They don’t realize the power of what different people bring to the table.  The masters still by and large overlook African Americans, women, ethnic minorities and persons of LGTBQ community.  The masters are still telling us who the masters are in our field and we are trying to be like them and the reality is we will never be them.

 

@Moneta Sleet Jr. 

While Moneta Sleet won the Pulitzer the real key to this story is that Mrs. King recognized his giftedness before he won. She knew he would be the one who would take the image we could feel.  She saw the gift before the world recognized it.  We have to look for our affirmation from those who love us, understand us and truly appreciate our work and us.  In too many instances we are looking for affirmation from those who may never recognize us. They can’t see what you see because they are looking through a different lens.  We see through a lens darkly and our images are those that Sleet sees.  Who are you looking to for affirmation?  How do you serve your community and stay in-touch with your people so that they can affirm what the creator has put in you and what you create?

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To see more of Mr. Sleet's work see the link below:
http://www.pinterest.com/djk1312/moneta-sleet-jr/

To see the work of more Ebony photographers:
The Work of Ebony Photographers