Oprah Gail Winfrey was born in Kosciusko, Mississippi, to an impoverished Baptist family on January 29, 1954. Her name is actually a mistake, as she was originally intended to be named Orpah after the Bible’s Book of Ruth. The midwife, in error, switched the “r” and the “p” around while writing the birth certificate. Oprah’s mother, Vernita Lee, was a housemaid and her father, Vernon Winfrey, was a coal miner, barber and then, city councilperson. Her parents were unmarried teenagers when she was born and shortly after her birth, her care was relegated to her grandmother, Haitee, while her mother went north in search of better work opportunities.
Although a strict disciplinarian, Haitee taught her granddaughter how to succeed, by teaching her to read at the age of two, revealing an extraordinary intelligence. She said of her granddaughter, that ever since she could speak, she was “on stage.” As a child, she interviewed corncob dolls and crows sitting on fences. By the time she was six, Oprah was living in Milwaukee with her mother who was less encouraging and supportive than her grandmother had been. Here she suffered abuse for her comparatively darker skin, and at the age of nine, was raped by her mother’s cousin’s boyfriend.
At the age of 14, Oprah was sent to live with her father in Nashville, Tennessee, as her mother could not handle her daughter’s growing promiscuity. Her father made her education a priority and she blossomed under his strict care, becoming an honors student and receiving a full scholarship to Tennessee State University where she studied communications. At age 18, she won the Miss Black Tennessee beauty pageant. At the age of seventeen, her career really began when she got a job working at her high school radio show.
She became the youngest and first black news anchor at Nashville’s WTVF-TV, and moved to Baltimore in 1976 to anchor that station’s six o’clock news. In 1983, Oprah relocated to Chicago to host “AM Chicago.” Her first episode aired on January 2, 1984, and was renamed “The Oprah Winfrey Show.” And the rest, my friends, is history, the television history of a true humanitarian who not only cares about the world, but has done so much to make it a better place for everyone of all races, ages, sexes and ethnic backgrounds.
Here’s to you, Oprah! May you reign forever!