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Sarah Waters
Black History Month Project
Feb/March 2009
Mr. Doucette, Period 1

Oprah Winfrey facts

Full name: Oprah Gail Winfrey

Date of Birth: 29 January 1954 (Kosciusko, Mississippi)

Parents: Vernita Lee, Vernon Winfrey

Job: Chat-show host, TV and film executive, actor

Nicknames: Sack Girl, The Preacher

Education: Tennessee State University (speech communications and performing arts)

Early Life

Early Life:

Oprah Gail Winfrey was born January 29th, 1954 in Kosciusko, Mississippi to unmarried parents. After Oprah's birth, her mother traveled north and Oprah spent her first five or six years living in rural Mississippi with her grandmother. Her grandmother taught her to read before the age of three and took her to the local church, where she was nicknamed "The Preacher" for her ability to recite Bible verses.
At age six, Oprah moved to an inner-city neighborhood in Milwaukee, Wisconsin with her mother, who was less supportive and encouraging than her grandmother had been.
After suffering years of abuse, at 13 Oprah ran away from home. When she was 14, she became pregnant, but her son died shortly after birth.
Her frustrated mother sent her to live with her father in Nahsville, Tennessee. Her father, Vernon was strict, but encouraging and made her education a priority. Winfrey became an honors student, was voted Most Popular Girl, joined her high school speech team at East Nashville High School, and placed second in the nation in dramatic interpretation.
She won an oratory contest, which secured her a full scholarship to Tennessee State University, a historically black institution, where she studied communication. At age 17, Winfrey won the Miss Black Tennessee Beauty Pageant.
Working in local media, she was both the youngest news anchor. She moved to Baltimore's WJZ-TV in 1976 to co-anchor the six o'clock news.

Personal life, Influence & Philanthropy

Personal life:

Winfrey currently lives on “The Promised Land”, her 42-acre estate with ocean and mountain views in Montecito, California, but she owns vacation homes all over the United States as well as a home on the Carribean island Antigua.
Winfrey and her partner Stedman Graham have been together since 1986. They were engaged to be married in November 1992, but the ceremony never took place.

Influence:

Winfrey was called "arguably the world's most powerful woman" by CNN and Time.com, "arguably the most influential woman in the world" by the American Spectator, "on of the 100 people who most influenced the 20th Century" and "one of the most influential people" of 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008 by Time. Winfrey is the only person in the world to have made all six lists.

Philanthropy:

Oprah Winfrey is also a philanthropist. She organized "Oprah's Angel Network" a charity aimed at encouraging people around the world to make a difference in the lives of underprivileged others. To date, Oprah has raised over $51,000,000. Winfrey personally covers all administrative costs associated with the charity, so 100% of all funds raised go to charity programs.
In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, Oprah asked her viewers to open their hearts—and they did. As of September 2006, donations to the Oprah Angel Network Katrina registry total more than $11 million.

Television & Film

Television:

After participating in various news broadcasts and talk shows, Oprah Winfrey was relocated to Chicago to host a low-rated half-hour morning talk show, AM Chicago. Within only months after Oprah took over, the show went from last place in the ratings to overtaking some of the highest rated talk shows in Chicago. The AM Chicago talk show was renamed The Oprah Winfrey Show and was expanded to a full hour.

In 1993, Winfrey hosted a rare prime-time interview with Michael Jackson which became the fourth most watched event in American television history as well as the most watched interview ever, with an audience of one hundred million.

Film:

In 1985 Oprah Winfrey co-starred in the film adaptation of the Pulitzer-prize winning novel "The Color Purple" by Alice Walker.

In 1998, Winfrey produced and starred in the film "Beloved" based upon a novel by Toni Morrison. To prepare for her role as Sethe, the protagonist and former slave, Winfrey experienced a 24-hour simulation of the experience of slavery, which included being tied up and blindfolded and left alone in the woods.

She has voiced for Charlotte's Web, as Gussie the goose. She is also the voice of Judge Bumbleden in Bee Movie.

Books, Magazines & Online

Books & Magazines:


Oprah Winfrey publishes two magazines: "O, The Oprah Magazine" and "O at home". Her magazine is considerably more popular than her TV show, earning US $63,000 a year. She has also co-authored five books, has founded "Oprah's Book Club" and is an influential book critic.


Online:

Oprah.com is a website created by Winfrey's company to provide resources and interactive content relating to her shows, magazines, book club, and public charity. Oprah.com averages more than 70 million page views and more than six million users per month, and receives approximately 20,000 e-mails each week.