Oprah Winfrey is an outlier, because she has gone through many hardships to get to where she is now, she has her own show, and she is an amazing actress. Oprah Gail Winfrey was born on January 29, 1954 in Kosciusko Mississippi. Her parents were Vernita Lee and Vernon Winfrey who were both teenagers when Winfrey was conceived. They soon left Winfrey to live with her grandmother, Hattie Mae Lee, who raised and taught her how to read. In Winfrey’s pass time as a child, she enjoyed to teach her friends about her findings that she had learned from the bible that her grandmother would have her read. At the later age of nine, Oprah moved to live with her mother where she continued to read books to help open her knowledge of the outside world (http://go.galegroup.com). While living with her mother, Winfrey tried to run away, and was then sent to juvenile detention home, “only to be denied admission because all the beds were filled “ (http://www.achievement.org).
In her later teenage years, Winfrey became an out of control adolescent, and had to go live with her father Vernon Winfrey, where she learned more about debate in school. Once she made the move to live with her father, she started to find herself in a new way, and could see herself in a new light. At the age of 16, Winfrey won an Elks Club discussion contest, and was bestowed a scholarship to Tennessee State University. While being a freshmen at TSU, Winfrey was given the chance to start a job at WJZ T.V. However, being a freshmen in college, she had to focus on her studies and took the job once she graduated. In 1976, Winfrey took her job at WJZ T.V and became a co-anchor of the evening news. In 1977, she was promoted to local news and performed on the ABC national morning ...
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...n Oprah for Time 100's Most Influential People of the Century. Her article highlights Oprah's achievements throughout her career, and explains how Oprah managed to steal the spotlight from other talk show host through her reinvention of "rapport-talk," to one based on back and forth discussion everyday issues and friendship. She states that Oprah's legacy is that she evokes a sense of caring because she herself cares about her audience. Tannen appeared frequently on the Oprah Winfrey show and had the opportunity to be featured on the show when she released her book, "You Just Don't Understand: Women and Men in Conversation" which Oprah praised and related to.
Oprah is one of the most well known and revered celebrities worldwide. What make Oprah distinct from mainstream celebrities is the entwining of the person and the product of Oprah. In each chapter, of Oprah: The Gospel of an Icon, Lofton compares materials from Oprah's many productions and religious culture. Lofton specifically focuses on the prosperity gospel as practiced by many churches and preached by Oprah, who gives gifts and fills pages of her magazine with products intended for a better life. Lofton also discusses celebrity culture and contemporary evangelism and how the brand Oprah thrives on the inseparable nature of religion and American capitalism
This essay I have decided to write about Oprah Winfrey. This is because Oprah had many serious life events. These life events must have implemented her key development stages or the other.
She did not even let people get in the way of her dreams. She had trauma along her journey but she looked passed that. She got rejected multiple times simply because she was defined as an African American but, again, that did not stop her from following her passion. Winfrey even donates money to help those in need, and so with this, she chased her dream until she got what she wanted. Oprah Winfrey is an inspiration to not just me, but to any girl who has been rejected and has gone through a non consensual sexual act - nothing stands her way as a woman. I would definitely say she is the most successful African American woman out
Oprah Gail Winfrey was born on January 29, 1954 in Kosciusko, Mississippi living with a poor Baptist family (Wikipedia). Her parents, Vernon Winfrey and Vernita Lee were unmarried and still teenagers during the time she was born (Wikipedia). She lived with her grandmother where she would learn how to read aloud and recite sermons by the young age of 3 (America's Beloved Best Friend). At the age of 13 she would move to Milwaukee with her mother and that's when the trouble would start (America's Beloved Best Friend). She would face sexual abuse and molestation from her family relatives as a teenager, by her cousin, family friends, and her uncle (Victoria Walker). Oprah would keep this a secret and would bottle up her anger, which lead to trouble (Victoria Walker). She would repeatedly run away from home and was sent to juvenile detention, but her admission would be denied because the detention's overcrowded area (America's Beloved Best Friend). At the age of 14 she was impregnated by one of her abusers, but the baby would become stillborn, and this would devastate Oprah (Victoria Walker). Her mother would send her to live with her father as a last resort. She vowed to change her life (Victoria Walker).
Winfrey’s early life was filled with arduous hurdles from the beginning, she was raised in a small podunk town in Mississippi that was anything but safe for a young girl, but on top of that she was raised by a single mother who was not around nearly enough. However the most formidable part of her upbringing was, she was sexually abused by ‘family friends’ and relatives on multiple occasions starting from the age of just nine. At twelve she was sent away to middle Tennessee to live with her father, there she realised her passion, she began giving speeches in front of her church and ultimately came to the conclusion that she wanted to speak for a living. Without her parents divorce Winfrey might have never figured out her passion of speaking to people until it was too late, this was a hidden advantage in the making of her success. However all too soon she had to leave the comfort of her father’s home where she could pursue her interest and journey back to her mother, where she was sadly yet again
Winfrey, Oprah, and Bill Adler. The Uncommon Wisdom of Oprah Winfrey: A Portrait in her Own Words. New York: Carol Pub. Group, 1997. Print.
Oprah Winfrey is an inspiration to many all around the world. She did not have a very good home life up until the age of 14. She was abused as a child and did not see her mother very often because she was a housemaid who was gone almost every day all day. Vernon Winfrey, Oprah’s father, was a big service in her life when it came to keeping her in a nonviolent manner. Oprah also had her career going for her when she became Miss Black Tennessee at age 17. When Oprah became Miss Black Tennessee she was offered a radio broadcasting job and a full scholarship to Tennessee. Oprah had quite a few talk shows yet she made the most money off her own show, The Oprah Winfrey Show, and now has her individual network called The Oprah Winfrey Network. Oprah Winfrey’s influential style greatly impacted those who came after her in the entertainment industry.
She eventually got transferred to the day time talk show arena and after boosting a third-rated talk show to first place, she launched her own production company and became internationally syndicated.
Oprah Winfrey was born on January 29, 1954. (“Oprah Winfrey Biography”). Oprah had a rough childhood (“Oprah Winfrey Biography”). She constantly moved from her mother’s house to her father’s house (“Oprah Winfrey Biography”). When Oprah lived with her mother she was raped (Lies, 2011). When Oprah lived with her father, she excelled (“Oprah Winfrey Biography”). Oprah’s rough childhood and thriving high school and college years definitely influenced her contributions to the world later showing ethical leadership (“Oprah Winfrey Biography”).
Oprah was born on a farm in 1954 to a poor family. Winfrey enjoyed reciting African American poetry, and became known as the "little speaker" in her town. When she was 12, Winfrey won $500 for a speech she gave at her father 's church. From then on she wanted to "be paid to talk." When Winfrey was a teenager, her dream was put on hold. Some of the trusted men of her family began to sexually abuse her. She lashed out in anger at the world by lying to her mother, running away from home, and stealing. Unaware of what Winfrey was going through, her mother sent her away to live with her father. If her mother never sent her away, Oprah 's life would have been much different. At age 17, Oprah Winfrey won the Miss Black Tennessee beauty pageant and was offered an on-air job at WVOL, a radio station for the African American community in Nashville. Oprah continued to work at WVOL in her first years of college, but her broadcasting career was already taking off. She left school and signed on with a local television station as a reporter and anchor. In 1976, she moved to Baltimore to join WJZ-TV News as a co-anchor. There, she co-hosted her first talk show, People Are Talking, while continuing to serve as anchor and news reporter. In January 1984, she was invited to Chicago to host a half-hour morning program on WLS-TV. In less than a year, she turned AM Chicago into the hottest show in
Around this time, Lee had given birth to another daughter ( Winfrey's half sister) she died at age 43 because of a cocaine addiction. After that tragic incident Oprah was sent to live with her dad in Nashville, Tennessee. While Oprah was living in Nashville, her mom gave birth to a 3rd child, also she gave birth to a boy named Jeffrey who later died of AIDS related causes in 1989. At 9 years old Oprah stated that she was molested by her cousin, uncle and a family friend. Oprah didn't want be a mother because she wasn't mothered well. At age 13, after suffering years of abuse, Winfrey ran away from home. When she was 14, she became pregnant but her son was born prematurely and he died shortly after birth. She began going to Lincoln High School, and soon got transferred to the affluent suburban Nicolet High School, where her poverty was rubbed in her face on the bus. Oprah began to steal money from her mom, her frustrated mother once again sent her to live with Vernam in Nashville, Tennessee, Vernam was strict, but encouraging and made her education a priority. She then became an honor student, she was
Winfrey has brought so much change to the world that one cannot just write a simple paragraph about. She has used her platform to discuss topics that are truly life changing such as Weight Issues, Reading, Give Big, and Taboo. Topics about weight have always interested the public, and Oprah was one individual who discussed it for the world to put their input in. She has talked about her own weight and made it clear how diet and exercise is important for the body. She strived to put the message in people’s ear’s that being healthy is what’s right. The next topic is reading, and this came from her “Oprah 's Book Club”. Oprah has always believed that reading is a fundamental skill and she wanted others to hop on the bandwagon and expand their knowledge. She started this book club for many reasons and it surely brought change to society. Give Big is the next topic of discussion and this changed society in a positive way. In 1997, Oprah wanted her viewers to make a difference in other people’s lives by donating their spare change. Shortly after that, she transformed that into the charity known as “Oprah 's Angel Network”. This charity was a huge success and has helped a lot of individuals in need. The final topics that will be discussed are taboo topics such as abuse, infidelity and addiction. These types of topics are what made Oprah Winfrey’s show such a success. She was so open about her childhood and other obstacles she had to face in her life that people began to trust
For most people growing up is filled with memories of joy and happiness. A childhood should be filled with affection and care, but Oprah did not always feel those things. Oprah did not have such a great upbringing, but despite the odds she rose up and became who she had wanted to be. Oprah had dealt with many accounts of sexual abuse, the lack of attention from her mother, and moving from place-to-place for most of her early years (Fry, web). Not only was Oprah faced sexual abuse, but she also became pregnant from one of the instances (Fry, web). This made things even more difficult for the young Oprah.