Biography for Oprah Winfrey

September 10, 2009 by AK Weaver

Oprah Winfrey has become one of the most influential and recognizable media figures in America. Her long list of professional and philanthropic accolades is especially remarkable due to her tumultuous upbringing in both rural and urbane poverty.

Oprah was born in Kosciusko, MS on January 24, 1954. She spent the first six years of her life growing up on her grandmother’s farm where she can recall wearing dresses made of potato sacks and was often teased due to their poverty.

Her grandmother, Hattie Mea Lee, taught Oprah to read by the time she was three and taught her to recite Bible verses for their church congregation giving Oprah her first taste of public speaking.
By the time Oprah turned six she went and joined her mother, Vernita Lee in Milwaukee, Wisconsin where she had found work as a house maid in the city. Her mother worked long hours and often relied on Welfare to support her family.

Oprah lived with her mother in Milwaukee until she was 13. During this time she suffered sexual abuse at the hands of family members and friends of her mothers. She kept the abuse a secret and started to rebel instead. Oprah repeatedly got into trouble, ran away and engaged in promiscuous behavior. She got pregnant at the age of 14 and gave birth to a son who died a few weeks after being born. Devastated by the death of her baby boy, Oprah vowed to turn her life around.

Being unable to handle Oprah’s wild behavior, her mother sent her to live with her father, Vernon Winfrey, in Nashville, Tennessee. Her father placed strict rules on his daughter and had her read books and submit book reports to him each week. Oprah’s love of reading that was instilled in her from her grandmother was revived. It was with her father’s guidance and discipline that she was able to turn her life around.
At the age of 19 Oprah landed a job working as a reporter for a radio station in Nashville. Later she enrolled in Tennessee State University to pursue a broadcasting degree. She also won several beauty pageants during this time.

In 1976 Oprah relocated to Baltimore, Maryland where she was hired to host a talk show called People Are Talking which became a success. After spending eight years in Baltimore she was recruited to be the host of her own morning show, A.M. Chicago. The show was up against the very poplar Phil Donahue Show but within a few months Oprah was able to bring her show to first in the ratings. She is credited and sometimes criticized for popularizing the confessional form of media communication that is now so popular in the talk show arena.

In 1985 Oprah teamed up with Steven Spielberg for a role in The Color Purple. Her performance earned her an Academy Award nomination. Finally in 1986 she began working on the Oprah Winfrey Show which has been a mainstay on television for 25 years. In 1998 she established her own production company Harpo Studios becoming the first African American woman to do so.

oprah-winfrey-defends-her-south-african-school Oprah has used her success to pursue many philanthropic and charitable events including building a school for girls in Africa and starting the Oprah’s Angle Network. She also founded O Magazine in 2000 and according to Oprah.com has plans to start the Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN) with Discovery Communications set to debut in 2010.