Oprah Winfrey: Life, influence and legacy

The television mogul rewrote the rulebook of what’s possible for African-American women in the 21st century.

It’s hard to estimate the influence Oprah Winfrey has had on global culture in a few thousand words. Depending on your age, you might already understand her role. She’s not just a television host — she’s a media proprietor and entrepreneur who rewrote the rulebook of what’s possible for African-American women in the 21st century. On the other hand, you may be aware of her philanthropy but not fully comprehend her legacy and how she’s positively impacted Black lives worldwide. This Oprah Winfrey biography tells her story through a Black lens, allowing you to understand the power and importance of this ground-breaking broadcaster known by many as the “Queen of All Media.”

The early life of Oprah Winfrey

Oprah Winfrey became the world’s only Black billionaire in 2003 and held this position for three years. She remains one of the wealthiest women on the planet. However, it wasn’t always this way. Like so many Black cultural icons, Winfrey’s beginnings were humble.

Born in Kosciusko, Mississippi, to a housekeeper mom and a coal miner father, Winfrey grew up in extreme poverty. She spent the first six years living with her maternal grandmother, a woman so short of money that Winfrey usually wore dresses made of potato sacks. It’s no surprise the other kids at school bullied her.

Winfrey enjoyed reading and reciting from an early age. She often reeled off Bible passages at church, where she picked up the nickname “The Preacher.” Books were her sanctuary, a means to escape a topsy-turvy home life filled with abuse and neglect. Her grandmother whipped her, her mother abandoned her and more than one family member sexually abused her.

At 14, Winfrey prematurely gave birth to a baby boy, so her mother sent her to live with her father in Nashville, Tennessee. This was a pivotal moment in her life . Living with her dad gave Winfrey some much-needed structure and discipline, influencing the years that would follow.

In 2010, Winfrey discovered she had a half-sister that her mom put up for adoption.

The rise of Oprah: From local news anchor to national phenomenon

When she was just 17, Nashville radio station WVOL offered Winfrey a job, which would start her broadcasting career. She also won a scholarship to Tennessee State University and studied speech communications and performing arts. Her phenomenal diction and ability to relate to an audience, regardless of their age or social status, made Winfrey an influential figure in local media.

A couple of years later, the CBS affiliate in Nashville gave Winfrey an opportunity that would change her life. She became the city’s first-ever African-American female evening news co-anchor. A few years later, Winfrey worked as a reporter and co-anchor for WJZ, the CBS affiliate in Baltimore, Maryland.

Winfrey wasn’t successful as a broadcaster in Baltimore, at least not at first. She often mispronounced words and sometimes cried on camera after reading sad stories, resulting in a “demotion” from the evening news. She then anchored the daytime local talk show “People Are Talking,” a format she excelled in. Her ability to connect with real people with real stories led to WLS-TV, the ABC affiliate in Chicago, hiring her for its talk show “A.M. Chicago.” The channel reformatted the program as “The Oprah Winfrey Show” — commonly known as “Oprah” — before nationally syndicating it in 1986.

Launching her national show

Winfrey was an instant hit with U.S. daytime audiences and often beat Phil Donahue, who pioneered the talk show format, in the ratings. Her show started as regular confessional fare, where everyday people would appear on-screen, often with a dilemma — perhaps a cheating spouse or a secret they wanted to reveal to a parent. As the format evolved, those with extreme and often worrying opinions would be center stage, including skinheads, homophobes and misogynists. This setup was popular in the ’80s and ’90s but faced criticism, garnering the nickname “Trash TV.”

Cultural commentators often felt that Winfrey and Donahue — and later, Jerry Springer, Ricki Lake, Jenny Jones, and countless others — would exploit their guests for ratings and ad revenue. In response, Winfrey rebranded her show with a new focus on helping people overcome challenges and lead better lives. This made her a positive influence in the Black community and wider popular culture.

After right-wing fascists appeared on her show in 1988, Winfrey knew she wanted to use the medium of television for good rather than expose toxic and damaging beliefs. Later, she said:

“I would no longer allow the platform that I had, the television audience platform, to be misused by people who were carrying any form of negative energy that could create more negative energy in the world.”

Innovative elements in her show

Winfrey wasn’t the first daytime talk show host, nor the last. However, her show pioneered the “live your best life” TV subgenre, where guests would appear not only to promote a new movie or book but to inspire and influence the audience. Self-help gurus and so-called spiritual “leaders,” such as Eckhart Tolle and Deepak Chopra, would talk about improving physical, mental and spiritual health, often resulting in criticisms from Christian groups. The Christian Research Institute said in 2023:

“The Christian community must respond to Winfrey’s growing New Age influence by developing solid apologetic approaches based on the clearest possible understanding of New Age thinking.”

Despite this criticism, Winfrey’s show endured, running for 25 seasons as the No. 1-rated show in daytime for over two decades.

Impact on television and media

Winfrey’s syndicated show was a mammoth success and positively impacted the television industry. According to NBC News, Winfrey “broke down the traditional barriers of journalism” by making the “very private very public” and celebrated “differences among people, regardless of color, disabilities or sexual orientation.” Los Angeles Time TV critic Mary McNamara told NBC News:

“I cannot understate the impact that she has had on our culture. You see it everywhere, from the explosion of memoirs to social media to journalists sharing their own opinions and own stories. That all started with [her].”

During its run until 2011, Winfrey’s show influenced public discourse in multiple ways. In 2008, she endorsed Senator Barack Obama, who would win the American presidency later that year, on screen for the first time. This endorsement was one of the most studied and discussed developments of the 2008 presidential election. Economists estimated it led to more than 1 million votes for Obama in the Democratic presidential primaries.

Then there’s Oprah’s Book Club, which started on her show in 1996. The premise is simple: Winfrey recommends a new book, typically a novel, for her fans to read and discuss. Many of these books, often telling African-American stories, have gone on to become bestsellers. Winfrey also has her magazine, published by Hearst, which she launched in 2000 as a “personal growth guide to help women to live their best lives.”

Oprah’s production ventures

Winfrey’s influence also expanded to other fields, including television production. In 1988, during the second season of her show, she set up her TV studio, Harpo — her first name spelled backward. Since then, her studio has created, developed and produced various movies and TV shows, including:

• “The Women of Brewster Place”
• “Tuesdays With Morie”
• “Beloved”
• “Dr. Phil”
• “The Dr. Oz Show”
• “The Nate Berkus Show”
• “Rachel Ray”

Now based in West Hollywood, California, Harpo has two divisions — the cable TV network OWN and Harpo Print, which is responsible for her magazine. Harpo previously operated Harpo Films and Harpo Radio but dissolved these ventures in 2013 and 2015, respectively.

Winfrey is also a successful movie producer, with her most popular credits including “Selma,” “Precious,” “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks” and the recent musical adaption of Alice Walker’s “The Color Purple.” All of these productions retell African-American narratives.

If all that wasn’t impressive enough, Winfrey has also had relative degrees of success as an actor, having appeared in “Beloved,” “The Butler” and other productions. In 1985, she received a Best Supporting Actress Academy Award nomination for playing Sofia in Steven Speilberg’s adaption of “The Color Purple.”

OWN Network: The birth of a media powerhouse

Nearly a year after ending her record-breaking and culturally impactful daytime talk show, Winfrey launched OWN, her eponymous cable network.

Notable projects on OWN

Despite losing viewership to streaming services over the years, OWN remains profitable, with 81 million subscribers in 2021. Some of the network’s most popular shows have included:

• “Greenleaf”
• “Queen Sugar“
• “For Better or Worse”
• “Love Thy Neighbor”
• “The Haves and the Have Nots”
• “If Loving You Is Wrong”

Tyler Perry has created or produced some of OWN’s most popular scripted series.

Themes in Winfrey’s work

Most of the programming on OWN, especially in recent years, centers around the African-American experience. “Love Thy Neighbor,” “If Loving You Is Wrong” and other primetime soap operas tell the stories of Black families dealing with various issues, including conflicts and dysfunctional relationships.

Meanwhile, OWN’s more spiritual fare, including award-winning docuseries, contains themes of authenticity, empathy, mindfulness and self-care. “Super Soul Sunday,” a self-help talk show fronted by Winfrey, ran for 10 years on the network and included conversations with Elie Wiesel, Maya Angelou, Marianne Williamson and other influential voices.

Personal growth and empowerment

Winfrey has lived much of her life on camera, including hosting her daytime show for a quarter of a century. During this time, she shared her most private struggles with her audience, including overcoming childhood sexual abuse, toxic relationships and workplace discrimination. Her honesty and, at times, emotional fragility empowered a legion of women, encouraging them to deal with their own challenges.

Winfrey has often shared positive influences in her life with her audience, including her relationship with long-time partner Steadman Graham and best friend Gayle King, who now hosts “CBS Mornings.”

The highest-rated episode of Winfrey’s daytime show was 1988’s “Diet Dreams Come True,” in which she proudly wheeled out a wagon of fatty meat, symbolizing the weight she had lost that summer—a total of 67 lbs. Winfrey has talked publicly about her struggle with weight, including her recent use of weight-loss prescription medication. In 2024, after nearly 10 years, she left the board of WeightWatchers, donated her shares to charity and owned her contribution to diet culture.

Awards and recognition

Winfrey has been nominated for and won multiple awards as a TV host, philanthropist, producer and actor. Some of the most significant include:

• Entertainer of the Year at the NAACP Image Awards (1991)
• Personal Award at the Peabody Awards (1995)
• S. Roger Horchow Award for Greatest Public Service by a Private Citizen at the Jefferson Awards for Public Service (1998)
• Bob Hope Huminatiran Award at the Primetime Emmys (2002)
• Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award at the Academy Awards (2011)
• Presidential Medal of Freedom (2013)

Winfrey has also been named one of the world’s most influential people several times by Time magazine and other publications.

Philanthropic efforts

Ask your friends and family what they associate with Winfrey, and they’ll probably mention her charity work and daytime talk show. Winfrey’s foundation gives money, provides education and serves meals to underserved communities in the United States and beyond, while her global outreach programs have made a monumental impact in several counties.

Winfrey’s Leadership Academy for Girls in South Africa prepares the potential leaders of tomorrow, making it one of her greatest achievements. However, shortly after the high school opened, one of its matrons was charged with sexually molesting multiple students. Winfrey offered a personal apology to everyone involved, including their parents.

Winfrey has also championed Black-owned businesses.

Oprah in popular culture

Winfrey has been a mainstay in American popular culture and parodied on NBC’s “Saturday Night Live” and Fox’s “Mad TV.” She has also been the subject of many books, including a 2021 biography published by Univeristy Press. Several musicians have also “shouted out” Winfrey, including:

• Lil Yachty
• T-Pain
• Rick Ross
• Nas
• Fifth Harmony

Legacy

For almost 40 years, Oprah Winfrey has had a massive impact on entertainment and wider culture, helping to shape opinions about race, sexuality, sexual abuse and many other social issues. Whether endorsing a political candidate or making a novel a New York Times bestseller, she has been an unstoppable force and one of the most significant Black voices in history. Perhaps Entrepreneur magazine says it best:

“Winfrey didn’t let her past experiences define her. Instead of basing her identity on a previous life of poverty, abuse and self-destructive behavior, Oprah focused on her potential and started on a new path.”

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