Love her or hate her, there is no denying Oprah Winfrey is one of the most influential women in the world. She also spent much of her formative years in Nashville with her father, Vernon Winfrey, still a resident of one of Nashville’s southern suburbs.
Oprah was born on January 29, 1954, in Kosciusko, Mississippi. Growing up poor in the segregated South, she was raised by various relatives, first moving to Wisconsin and then to Nashville.
Sent to live with her father as a young teen, Oprah thrived under his strict, yet loving and encouraging, supervision and made her education a priority. Winfrey became an honors student, was voted Most Popular Girl, joined her high school speech team at East Nashville High School and placed second in the nation in dramatic interpretation. She won an oratory contest, which secured her a full scholarship to Tennessee State University to study Communications.
Crowned Miss Fire Prevention and then Miss Black Tennessee at age 19, in 1972 Oprah dropped out of TSU during her sophomore year to began her career in broadcasting at Nashville's WTVF-TV.
Oprah became the youngest and the first African-American woman ever to anchor the news in Nashville. She then moved to Baltimore to co-anchor the six o'clock news until she was recruited to co-host Baltimore's WJZ-TV's local talk show, "People Are Talking." The show made her a national success and was so popular that reruns were shown at night!
In 1988, Oprah was awarded a diploma from Tennessee State University.
And the rest, as they say is history. The Oprah Winfrey show has been one of the most successful programs in television. She went on to produce and star in films, a TV drama, started a magazine, is a compassionate philanthropist, and many, many other endeavors.
Happy Birthday Oprah!
