Oprah Winfrey

Oprah Winfrey

When you look around you in this world today what do you see. You probably see teens acting like grown men women, parents not caring, and the government not stepping into do anything about it. The youth of this generation are acting the people they see on television and magazines. Well what would happen if the teens of this “day and age” saw Oprah Winfrey everywhere. I’m sure this world would be a better place.

Oprah Winfrey was born on January 29, 1954 in Kosciuko, Mississippi. Her parents are Vernon Winfrey and Vernita Lee. They never married, and Oprah’s birth was summed up as a “one-day fling under an oak tree” (Nicholson 19). But Vernon believes that what happened between him and Oprah’s mother wasn’t right. He later said” I tell people today that if something like that happens, the boy should help take care of the child” (Nicholson 20).

At an early age Oprah was living with her maternal grandparents who owned a small pig farm. She remembers those days as a mixture of feelings of isolation, loneliness, wonder, and love (Nicholson 20). Isolation because the people she could interact with were the people from her church. She felt loneliness because she didn’t have anybody to play with. She was wondering what was cut there for her in life. And she felt love because her grandmother really adored her. Winfrey said this about her grandfather though.” While mama (grandmother) was a firm and loving presence in my life, my grandfather was a troublesome figure who terrified me as a little girl.” She went on to say, “I feared him”(Nicholson 20).

Oprah at the age of nine was sexually abused by a teenage cousin and later by other male family members while still living with her grandmother. Her family believed that Oprah was a troublemaker. She was sent to juvenile detention at thirteen. A year later, Oprah gave birth to a premature baby who died soon afterward. She said this “Everybody in the family sort of shoved it under a rock, because I was involved in sexual promiscuity, they thought that if anything happened it had to be my fault (Kanner 98)

Later in her teen years with her believed father Vernon Winfrey. He saved her life from going down the drain. He wouldn’t tolerate anything that was not of his nature. He wouldn’t let her wear the outfits and clothing that she wore because it wasn’t school appropriate. He wouldn’t let her wear the makeup or talk the type of slang that was in then. Grade-wise if she brought home anything lower than a “B” she was in for it. She addressed the man who saved her life as “Daddy.” Along with this strict set of rules Vernon Winfrey loved is daughter and gave everything she needed to be equipped with. He also supported her with all of this heart (Patterson and Wright 32-34).

“Oprah Winfrey went from a poor illegitimate black girl who went from rags