Oprah Winfrey Biography

Oprah Winfrey is one of the most prominent names in broadcast journalism. She is a billionaire media executive and philanthropist, she is best known for her talk show called “ The Oprah Winfrey show”. Her show was among the highest-rated talk shows that aired for nearly 25 years, starting from 1986 to 2011. She is America’s first multi-millionaire, she was also named as the most influential woman in the world in 2007. She is seen as an icon who paved the path for women of colour in broadcast journalism and journalism in general. She is still considered the most influential black philanthropist. 

(Image will be uploaded soon)

Early Life and Family of Oprah Winfrey

Oprah Winfrey was born on January 29, 1954. She was born in the rural town of Kosciusko, Mississippi, in the United States of America. Her parents were Vernita and Vernon. She was born into a poor household. Oprah Winfrey's life story is not an easy road, amidst the poverty and the financial strains on the family. The early childhood and early teen of the activist and journalist were spent with her mother Vernita in her hometown. She left her hometown to live with her father Vernon in Nashville, in the United States of America. 

Oprah’s father Vernon was a barber and businessman, he also served as a coal miner. The main reason for moving with her father was the financial pressure on the mother. Her mother was a maid. Oprah had three half-siblings, she had a younger sister named Patricia, her second sister was also named Patrica and was adopted by an anonymous family, her third and youngest sibling, her brother, Jeffrey died at an early age due to AIDS in 1989. Winfrey was raised as a protestant Christian, she was baptized at the age of 8, in a Baptist church.

Although Oprah had a troubled childhood, her mother always prioritized her education. Oprah understood the need and power of education, this is seen in her philanthropic works in the later years where she talks and promotes education, especially of girls that belong to a socially marginalized group.

Education of Winfrey

Nonetheless, the Oprah Winfrey story is one of the most inspiring stories, especially for girls and women and people of colour, like the African- American community. Oprah was an exceptional student and was a hard-working personality, she attended Lincoln High School in Milwaukee, was a participant in the Upward Bound program. The programme is a federally funded educational program within the United States. The programme aims to provide financial support to the exceptional students of the marginalised communities. Oprah did well in the programme and as a result was transferred to the affluent suburban Nicolet High School, which provided her with a better chance at a university education.

Social conditioning that is mentioned in Oprah Winfrey biography is the class separation of the students based on the financial status of the person, since, she belonged to a poor family she always felt the need to match to the students that had a wealthy or modest background. Winfrey rode the bus to school with fellow African-Americans, some of whom were servants of her classmates' families.

After moving with her father Vernon, she attended the East Nashville High School, her education was also supported and giggly encouraged by her father. She became an honours student, she also represented her school in the inter-school competition, she won the second position in debate competition representing her school in the nation in dramatic interpretation.

Winfrey got her education from Tennessee State University. She got on to the college on a full-time scholarship, she was selected for the scholarship through an Elks Club speaking contest. During her college years, she was invited as a speaker to a White House Conference on Youth. While studying in college as a sophomore student she was offered a job by the Nashville Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS), she initially rejected the job but on consulting a teacher at the college she took up the job, she worked in television and radio broadcasting. She graduated in communication from the University in 1986.

The Career of Oprah Winfrey

Oprah is known as the leading  American talk show host, television producer, actress, author, and philanthropist. She is best known for her talk show called The Oprah Winfrey Show, although she is widely popular because of the show she started her career by working as a commentator on the radio for CBS. The work she did on the radio was during her college years. Her first big break was when she moved to Baltimore, Maryland, in 1976. She got a chance to host a tv show called People Are Talking, she hosted the show for eight years, during these years Oprah established herself as a prominent personality with a rather new way of presenting, her style was unique and more liberal as compared to those of her contemporaries. 

Oprah Winfrey was young when she left the show, she was soon offered to host her own talk show, this was the famous show that aired for 25 years, the show was named The Oprah Winfrey Show. The show first aired in 1986 and lasted till 2011. The show made approximately 125 million US dollars. She earned 30 million dollars in the first year.

 Oprah soon gained ownership of the show, her talk show was then re-produced under the banner of her production house called Harpo Productions. She developed her new style of presentation, during the time tabloid media and talk shows were primarily focused on gossip and details of personal life, Oprah was the trendsetter to oppose such patterns, she kept the content of her show inclusive, and politically and socially relevant. Her show saw an initial decline in the audience and received some backlash but soon she earned the respect of her viewers and was soon rewarded with an upsurge in popularity. The contract of her show was renewed in the year of 2004, which lasted till 2010-11 season.

Apart from the television series Oprah produced the following T.V series, Dr Phil, Rachael Ray, The Dr Oz Show and many others. She also moderated three ABC Afterschool Specials from 1992 to 1994. Another prominent film that she produced includes The Color Purple, the film was based on the novel of Alice Walker, she also performed in The History of Black Women Through Drama and Song.

Oprah’s Book club

While Oprah was still hosting her talk show she launched the Oprah book club, this was an initiative that greatly helped the publishing houses, the book club helped many new authors and authors belonging to the marginalised community to publish their books on a mass scale. The book club was a segment of the show thus giving a huge platform and exposure to new writers that helped shape their careers. Even after the completion of the show, she continued her book club. One of the most famous books that were advertised in her book club was the memoir of the first lady of the United States of America, Michelle Obama. The memoir is named Becoming.

Political Activism

Needless to say, Oprah is an important person with a large number of followers, she was first seen campaigning for the United States of America’s presidential elections in the year 2007. She campaigned for the democratic party member Barack Obama, she is known to have liberal thoughts and ideologies, being a black woman herself it was not very shocking to support the first black president. Obama won the elections of 2007. The campaign with Oprah was a huge success, she joined Obama for a series of rallies in the early caucus states of Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina. It is an interesting fact that in her career where she was always seen as a politically active person was for the first time campaigning for the presidential candidate.

Oprah after the win of the 2007 election again campaigned for Stacey Abrams, in 2018. She was the first female who belonged to the African- American community to run for the Georgia gubernatorial candidate, she was also the first candidate to be assigned as a nominee from a major party. Winfrey and Stacey Abrams campaigned and eleven participated in the debate with other Democratic candidates, but Stacey lost with a narrow margin against the Republican candidate called Brain Kemp. She also was a protest and donated several million against gun violence in the United States, the movement was called March For Our Life, many reports suggest that she donated approximately  $500,000. She has also met the crown prince of Saudi Arabia, Mohammad bin Salman when he visited America.

Philanthropy

Oprah is known for her charity works, she is known to have donated several million to open schools for the people of marginalised communities. She is also among the top 50 most generous Americans. She is known to have given 400 scholarships to the  Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia. She has also donated an amount of  $12 million to the Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture.

She is also the founder of the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls in Henley on Klip south of Johannesburg, South Africa. The school is for women and girls of financially poor sections of society.

Among many accolades, Oprah received the highest honour of the country called the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2013 by president Barack Obama.