Frauleine Mariecon Cruz Barron

05-31-19
Period #4

OPRAH WINFREY
EARLY LIFE/FAMILY LIFE:
Oprah was born in Kosciusko Mississippi, January 29 1954.Her parents wanted to name
her “ORPHA” but people are having a hard time pronouncing it,so her parents decided
to switch R and P which became “OPRAH”. When she was 6 years old she moved to
Milwaukee,Wisconsin to live with her mother then she moved to Nashville to live with
her father at her early teens.

CAREER/EDUCATION:
Oprah Graduated in year 1976 in Tennessee State University,at the age of 19 She
became a news anchor for local,CBS television,She excelled in the casual and personal
talk-show format,in 1984 she moved to Chicago to host the faltering talk show AM
Chicago.In 1985 Oprah appeared in Steven Spielberg’s adaptation of Alice Walker’s 1982
novel The Color Purple. Her performance led to other roles, including a performance in
the television miniseries The Women of Brewster Place in year 1989. Oprah formed her
own television production company, Harpo Productions, Inc., in 1986, and a film
production company, Harpo Films, in 1990. The companies began buying film rights to
literary works, including Connie May Fowler’s Before Women Had Wings, which
appeared in 1997 with Oprah as both star and producer, and Toni Morrison’s Beloved,
which appeared in 1998, also with Winfrey in a starring role.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS/AWARDS:
In 1998 Oprah expanded her media entertainment empire when she cofounded Oxygen
Media, which launched a cable television network for women. In 2006 the Oprah &
Friends channel debuted on satellite radio. She brokered a partnership with Discovery
Communications in 2008, through which the Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN) replaced
the Discovery Health Channel in January 2011. In 2009 Winfrey announced that her
television talk show would end in 2011; it was speculated that she would focus on OWN.
The last episode of The Oprah Winfrey Show aired in May 2011, and Oprah’s Next
Chapter, a weekly prime-time interview program on OWN, debuted in January 2012. In
2017 it was announced that Discovery was acquiring a majority share in OWN, though
Winfrey would remain involved in the channel. That year she also became a special
correspondent for the newsmagazine 60 Minutes, which aired on CBS. Winfrey excelled
in the casual and personal talk-show format, and in 1984 she moved to Chicago to host
the faltering talk show AM Chicago.Oprah’s honest and engaging personality quickly
turned the program into a success, and in 1985 it was renamed The Oprah Winfrey
Show. Syndicated nationally in 1986, the program became the highest-rated television
talk show in the United States and earned several Emmy Awards.she also received the
Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and
Sciences. In 2013 Winfrey was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom. She won the
Cecil B. DeMille Award (a Golden Globe for lifetime achievement) in 2018.then spoke
against child abuse and received many honours and awards from civic,philanthropic,
and entertainment organizations.

CONTRIBUTIONS TO SOCIETY:
Oprah opened a school worth $40million for disadvantaged girls in the year 2007, also
Oprah engaged in many philanthropic activities, including the creation of Oprah’s
Angel Network, which sponsors charitable initiatives worldwide.

IMPACT ON US,SPORTS,POLITICS,OR SCIENCE:

Oprah made a speech about gender and racial equality
She have inspired many people and she became part of many philanthropic activities,
she helped women and children, also she talked about reality in her shows.

SOURCE
1. “Oprah Winfrey” Britannica school,encyclopedia
2. “Oprah my next moves” explora,EBSCO experience
3. “Oprah Winfrey” SIRS discoverer