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Jessica CENSORED
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2-14-08

Oprah Gail Winfrey


Oprah Gail Winfrey was born January 29, 1954 in Kosciusko Mississippi. Oprah's name is actually a mistake it's a mis-pronunciation of the biblical name Orpah. Orpah was Naomi's second daughter-in-law in the Book of Ruth in the Old Testament. When Oprah was born she already had obstacles to overcome, she was born to unwed teenage parents,she was female, she was poor, and she was black. For the first six years of her life Oprah lived on a Mississippi farm with her grandmother, that being the first stroke of good luck for her. Her grandmother taught her to read at an early age, creating a love of reading that she still carries with her today. When she was just three she began her speaking career by reciting sermons in her church.
When Oprah turned six her grandmother could no longer care for her and she was sent to live with her mother in a Milwaukee ghetto. Under her mother's care she was abused, and molested multiple times. She never told any one about the abuse and she rebelled. Oprah ran away many times. Her mother later decided to put her in a detention center, fortunately she was denied admission because there was no room for her. At the age of thirteen she was sent to live with her father, who was a barber in Tennessee.
When Oprah was fourteen she gave birth to a stillborn baby. The death of her baby devastated her and she vowed to turn her life around. Her father helped her by strapping her with his strict discipline. He made sure his daughter stuck with her curfew, maintained high grades in school, and encouraged her to be her best. He even made her read and write a book report every week.
She landed a job in radio while still in high school and began co-anchoring the local evening news at the age of 19. Shortly after wards she entered Tennessee state university to pursue her career in radio and television broadcasting. During her first year at TSU she won several pageants including “Miss Tennessee”, and “Miss Black Nashville”.
In 1976 Oprah moved to Baltimore and she hosted a television show called people are talking. Due to the shows success she stayed for eight years. She then moved to Chicago to host her own morning show, A.M. Chicago. The show was competing against the other popular morning show Paul Donahue. After a few months Oprah's warm personality boosted it's rating from third to first! Her success lead to her snatching of the lead role in Steven Spielberg's film, The Color Purple in 1985 , for which she was nominated for an academy award.
In 1986 she created the Oprah Winfrey show. Which has had 22 seasons and over 3,000 episodes. In 2007 Oprah stated in 2011 she will not renew her contract and thus the Oprah Winfrey show will be no more. The show is highly influential especially with women. During her nineteenth season premiere (fall of 2004) Oprah gave her entire audience a brand-new Pontiac G6. It was named one of the greatest television moments of history by TV Guide.
Oprah also starred in the film Beloved based on Toni Morrison's Pulitzer Prize Award winning book Beloved. Most people don't know about this film because it opened to poor box office results, losing about $30 million.
Oprah is also the author of two magazine's called O, The Oprah Magazine and O at Home.
She has co-authored five books and is said to have broken the world's highest book advance fee which was previously held my Bill Clinton for his autobiography My Life.
Oprah has overcome all the obstacles she was born with and has achieved more than many of our time. She has achieved three day time Emmy awards,International Radio and Television Society's (IRST) "Broadcaster of the Year" Award, she was the youngest and only the fifth woman ever to receive the honor in IRTS's 25-year history. She also has won Miss Tennessee and Miss Black Nashville, and was the first African-American to land the cover on Vogue Magazine. Oprah has also started a book club on air to encourage reading, founded families for better lives to help abused children, and she was the first black billionaire in America.