Oprah Winfrey

By Sydney Shrewsbury

Have you ever been in an uncomfortable situation where you couldn't do anything about it? Oprah Winfrey was one of those people. Her journey started when she was only nine years old. Her “Uncomfortable situation” was being raped. Throughout her childhood this happened to her; even if she tried to move away from this horrible problem, it would follow her. Despite her rough childhood, she has accomplished many things in her life.

Early Life:

Oprah Gail Winfrey was born on January 29, 1954 in Kosciusko, Mississippi. She lived on a farm with her mother, Verntia Lee, and with her grandmother, Hattie Mae, nearby. Throughout her childhood, she had chores to do around the farm such as getting water from the wells, taking the cows out to the pasture, and feeding the hogs. She went to church with her mother and grandmother. When she did go, she often thought that it was boring. She also made her own dresses and did not have a T.V. or a telephone. Despite her rough childhood, she has accomplished many things in her life.

When Oprah was nine years old, she was raped by her cousin, uncle, and her family friends. She tried to stay away from them the best she could when they came over. Around 13 years old, she moved to Tennessee to live with her father and step-mother. When she was fourteen years old, she became pregnant. After being seven months pregnant, she had the baby. A couple weeks after she had the baby, it died in infancy because of being prematurely born.

Education

Oprah went to many different schools since she was moving around so much. She went to Lincoln high school, Nicolet high school, and East Nashville high school. She was also a good student since she had a 4.0 as her grade point average in college at Duke. Eugene Abrams (One of Oprah’s teachers) noticed different behavior from her, in her freshman year. He could sense something was wrong but ignored it. 

Career

The beginning of Oprah’s career was when she was on a local black radio station. Oprah was around eighteen years old when she first knew what she wanted to do with her life and greatly accomplish that. She soon was the youngest black female anchor on a news channel which helped boost her publicity. Over the years, she was soon famous. The main person who influenced Oprah was her grandmother, Hattie Mae. Oprah looked up to her grandma because she was a great, nice, proud woman who inspired Oprah. . Along her career, Oprah faced some ups and downs such as her half-sister, Patricia, selling Oprah’s rough childhood story to a newspaper once Oprah became famous. When she was ready, she confessed what her childhood was like on her own T.V. show.

Accomplishments

Throughout Oprah’s career, she has accomplished many things. She was the youngest black female anchor, a co-host of WJZ’s, she also had her own T.V. show in Chicago. Those are only a few of the many things she has done. She went to Duke and Harvard for College, Was the greatest philanthropist in American history, was a media proprietor, a talk show host, and got a presidential medal of freedom given to her by Barack Obama. She is also an actress, producer, and an anchor. She became famous by telling people her story and by showing people her great acting. She had many people who influenced her to do what she loves which boosted her confidence to help her believe that she can accomplish anything.

She has given us confidence and someone to look up to in our own situations. She has accomplished many things which has influenced us to accomplished what we think we can do such as being the first female president (If Hilary Clinton loses) or something as simple as spinning a basketball on our finger for a minute.

Impact on the world

I feel that Oprah has changed America because even through the roughest parts of her life, she stayed strong. This was really good for her and her fans because she may have given them confidence and joy to just push through the hardest times in their life. Thanks to Oprah, we know not to judge someone based on what we think happened and wait to hear the truth.

Lessons

Oprah has influenced many people to speak up if they are in a tough situation. She has done so many things that have created more confidence and give people a reason to believe in what they think they are capable of doing. Since she has given people that confidence to speak up, WE can be the ones to accomplish anything that we set our minds to. She has showed us many things, not only her story, but has also given us a role model/ someone to look up to which is  important.