Oprah Winfrey Show and Awards

Black history month is a time to remember all of the african american people who have impacted this world. African american people have had a harder life than privileged white people. One African american who fought for everything she strived to be was Oprah Winfrey. She is a prime example of starting from nowhere and striving to become everything she wanted to be. In her childhood she had to deal with things no little girl would even think about yet, she came out as an amazing woman. In her being a talented talk show host and actress she managed to build an empire that empowered everything she stands for.

Oprah Winfrey was born to Vernita Lee and Veron Winfrey on January the twenty-ninth on an isolated farm. Her father was a U.S army private and her mother was an unwed teen. When she was a small girl her name was originally supposed to be Orpah, from the bible but with all the miss pronunciation they just called her Oprah. Her parents were never married so shortly after her birth they seaperted and Oprah was left with her grandmother on the farm. As a child she entertained herself by “play acting” in front of an “audience” of farm animals. Since living with her strict grandmother for the first years of her life she learned to read at the age of two from the bible. When it was time for Oprah to start Kindergarten she wrote a letter to her teacher stating she was too good for that grade and that she should be in first grade; after that she was moved to third grade.

At the age of six she was sent to live with her mom and two half-brothers in Milwaukee ghetto, a very dangerous place to live. After her mom got tired of her at the age of twelve she sent her to live with her dad in Nashville,Tennessee. Once she was finally happy and getting her life on track she was sent back to live with her mother. While living with her mom Oprah was sexeually assaulted by many “trusted” people in their family or friends. She later got pregnant and lost the child two weeks later.

After being sent back and forth between parents she finally got to stay with her dad; to this day she claims her dad saved her life. Years later in the finale of her show Oprah found out she has a half sister named Patricia. She was born when Oprah was nine years old and was soon put up for adoption because her mom wouldn’t be able to get off public assistance. When the half sister tried to contact the mom, Vernita wanted nothing to do with her.

Oprah Winfrey’s career started in 1976 when she moved to Baltimore, Maryland where she hosted “People Are Talking” and shortly after became popular and stayed that way for eight years; She was later recruited from a Chicago radio station. In 1976

She launched her own show called “The Oprah Winfrey Show”. This show was a nationally syndicated program that ran for twenty-five years. This show was on over one hundred and twenty channels. Her show was watched by over ten million viewers. The shows first years made over one hundred and twenty-five million; she received thirty million. In the show she did not talk about anything that was tabloid related topics and for this she earned respect for others which helped her gain many more viewers than she lost.

In 1997 she introduced “Oprah’s Favorite Things” an annual list of holiday gifts curated by the mogul on her talk show. In 2004 she announced a new contract that continued her show through the 2010-11 seasons. In 1996 Oprah launched a book club to go with her show that started many famous authors to the best sellers list. After her show ended she kept her book club going until 2018.

One of the major interviews she had done was Michelle Obama on her new release of her memoir “Becoming”. At this time she had two hundred and twelve stations and over one hundred world wide. After her show she gained ownership of “ABC” and took it under control of her new production company (Harpo Products). Harpo included the highly rated 1989 Tv miniseries “The Women of Brewster Place”.

In 2009 she would be ending her program with ABC, in 2011.This talented women is also the creator of “O magazine”. In her lifetime she has been nominated sixty-seven times for an award and won thirty-eight. The most mentioned awards are Daytime Emmy awards, Golden Globe awards, Jefferson awards for Public Service. All of the awards she won for Daytime was for her show “The Oprah Winfrey Show”. Her Golden Globe award was from her work “Herself”.

The most Nobel award she had received was the President Medal of Freedom which is the nation’s highest civilian honor. She is also the voice of Guessing the goose for Charlotte’s Web, and Eudora, the mother of Princess Tiana in Disney’s The Princess and the Frog.

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