Oprah Gail Winfrey Research Paper

1) Have you ever had an obstacle in your way? Or something that was keeping you from living your dream? Well Oprah is not that person. Oprah Gail Winfrey was born on January 29, 1954 on an old farm in Mississippi. She grew up with her Grandmother till the age of six. Unfortunately, her grandmother became ill, there for she went to live with her mother and half sister in Milwaukee. The family had little money, due to the fact that her mother worked as a cleaning maid. At age 7, after a while Oprah was sent to Nashville to live her father and stepmother. For the first time in her life, Oprah got to experience many things she hadn’t been able to before. She attended elementary school but skipped to 3rd grade write away. Just a little while later,

One regular day on the farm, Oprah’s mother left her at home with her older, male, 19 year-old cousin. That is when the tragic event occurred.At the age of 9, her very own cousin had secually abused, and raped her. Later that day, he bribed her with a trip to the ice cream store, so she would keep quiet. Like the good, innocent, young girl she was, she did as she was told and didn’t say one word. Right when she thought things can’t get any worse, Oprah was then, later abused by an uncle, and close, family friend. As a result of the secual abbuse she had experienced, Oprah was traumatized. She began lashing out. She had gotten into the habit of cutting class, and stealing from her mother. Her mother, oblivious to what her daughter was going through, could not handle Oprah’s behavior. She sent her back to Nashville, to live with her father. A little while after she was raped, Oprah was pregnant. She was so frightened to tell her father, she confessed the news in the 7th month of her pregnancy. Tragically, the infant died after 2 weeks of

She looks up to, Female, African American poet, Maya Angelou. At Age 16, Oprah reads Maya’s first autobiography, I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings. “ I would read it over and over again”, she said. In order to recover, Oprah put most of her focus towards her education, and public speaking skills. In 1970, the soon to-be star, won an Elk’s club speaking competition, which won her a 4-year college scholarship. In 1971, Oprah was selected to appear at the White House conference to represent Tennessee. After she returned to Nashville, she was Interviewed by the radio-station WVOL, who would soon ask her to represent them in a beauty