Oprah Gail Winfrey

Oprah Winfrey (katradio.com)

My hero is Oprah Gail Winfrey. She is my hero because I find her to be not only one of the most influential African Americans, but one of the most influential people in the world. Some of the things that make her so inspirational to others and influential are her millions of dollar donations to various charities and all the programs she personally runs for the poor people of the USA and for the uneducated in Africa. She is someone I can look up to because I believe in human rights and that is what she is all for.

Oprah Winfrey was born January 29th 1954, in Kosciusko, Mississippi USA. She was born Orpah (after the biblical character) but her name was changed to Oprah shortly after her birth due to her family members inability to pronounce the R before the P. Oprah was born to a teenage mother and her parents were separated when she was very young. When her parents separated she was sent to live with her grandmother, Hattie Mae Lee, who was very poor. While living with her grandmother on the farm she would spend most of her time interviewing inanimate objects such as the scarecrows. It was then that her grandmother Hattie Mae realized Oprah's love for acting and performing. By the age of 6 she was moved to live with her mother, Vernita Lee, who now thought she was responsible and old enough to take care of a child. Another reason for her moving in with her mother was that her grandma had become ill and was not fit to care for her.

By the time Oprah was 14 she left and moved to Nashville to live with her father due to neglect by her mother and because how many times she was being sexually molested by male relatives while her mother was at work. Her mother proclaims that she sent her to live with her father due to her bad behavior and that she didn't want to have to put up with it. Oprah had apparently been skipping school, dating, stealing from her mother, and running away constantly.

While living with her father, Vernon Winfrey, she went through a rebellious stage of her life and it was very difficult for her because of the strictness and high standards of her father.

She slowly got out of her rebellious stage when she realized the potential she had after being awarded a scholarship for a special high school, Nicollet Secondary School. After that in the later years of high school she was awarded a University Scholarship which was what really made her clean up her act and realize that she could go far in life. Oprah then went on to study at Tennessee State University, where she decided she was interested in a career of acting and broadcasting. While in university she worked as a news anchor on a radio station and after graduating went on to work at a morning television show, which a few years later became the internationally known Oprah Winfrey Show.

Oprah Winfrey donates to many charities and there are many things that influenced her to give so much back to the needy in the world. Some of the many things that influenced Oprah are: being poor as a child and knowing how it feels to have nothing; poverty; her trip to Africa where she saw all the young girls that couldn't go to school; and being an African American citizen.

Oprah has has many obstacles stand in her way during her climb to success, from childhood issues to issues caused by drama on her television show. There's no doubt about it that she has had to deal with some rough things throughout her life and will continue to have to deal with controversies. Oprah has overcome all the obstacles she has had to face in her life and what didn't tear her down just made her stronger. The obstacles in Oprah's life started at a very young age and have continued on to now. Some of the main things that stood in her way of succession while growing up were things like, having young divorced parents, her troubles with drugs and other rebellious things in her teenage years, and just the fact that she was a black woman in a time of discrimination against both blacks and women. She overcame these obstacles by using them to help make her stronger. For example instead of letting racism and sexism make her feel deprived as a human being, she embraced the fact that things like this were going on in the world and that she could be there to help stop these injustices.

Later in Oprah's life when she was about 19, she had decided she wanted to be in a career having to do with broadcasting, and that was when she got her first part-time job, as a news anchor for a local radio station. She was never comfortable with this job because she was the youngest person to work there and the only African-American working at this station or on any station in the area. Despite her discomfort she stuck it out hoping something good would come from it, and it did. She was promoted to a morning talk show in Baltimore, which later became the Oprah Winfrey Show. Thus her career was born, and it was all because of the courage she had to stay on the station she was working for.

Even now that Oprah Winfrey is a world known celebrity and a big time influence on the world she still has obstacles she has to overcome. One of the most recent issues she's had to face is the problems having to do with her newly opened all girls school in South Africa. First of all, Oprah had to deal with the whole issue of the sexual harassment of students by other students in the school. Then she had to deal with all the people blaming her for things that were happening there, when clearly it wasn't her fault that harassment was taking place in her school overseas. Lastly she had to deal with all the journalists and critics that then questioned why she was building million dollar schools in different countries when her own country of the United States had poor areas where there are very high drop out rates and not very many good schools.

How she dealt with the issues of the sexual harassment was she then went over to South Africa and had the girls doing this removed from the school. She then responded to these journalists by simply stating that, yes we may not have the best schools in some areas, but up to a certain age you are mandated to attend school and they will come to your house and make you go to school. Meanwhile, in South Africa the girls didn't even have a school that was optional to go to, let alone that they would be forced to attend. So she felt the need to help these poor helpless girls that wanted an education so badly by building a wonderful school for them.

I would consider Oprah to be a hero because she donates to so many charities so she can help people affected by poverty, the uneducated, the needy of the USA, and many other causes. She also started three of her own charities (huge non-profit organizations) and has donated hundreds of millions of dollars of her own money to these charities. I think the main thing that makes her a hero is how much she wants to help the world and how much money and effort she puts into getting programs and organizations set up for all the causes she believes in.

Oprah Winfrey is the owner, runner, and huge contributor to three big foundations. One of the three is the Angel Network. The Angel Network started out very small and was just to get the audience of her shows involved in donating for the boys and girls Club of America, which was an organization made to raise money so less fortunate students could get scholarships. Now the Angel Network gets millions of dollars a year and all the profits are donated to charities that give access to education for children who don't have it and organizations that are based on protecting human rights.

Another one of her foundations is The Oprah Winfrey Foundation. It is based around supporting the well-being and education of women all around the world. This foundation does not take donations because it is entirely run by Oprah herself and she covers all overhead fees and personally donates millions of dollars a year to a charity of her choice. In The Oprah Winfrey Foundation she also contributes millions of dollars a year towards undeserved students to get them educations. Oprah's third foundation that she owns is The Oprah Winfrey Operating Foundation. This foundation was made to donate money to build schools in Africa. Not only does this foundation give money to build schools, but it also provides the schools with supplies and uniforms for all the students.

Oprah doesn't only donate to and run these three foundations but she also donates millions of dollars to other organizations and foundations for causes that she believes in. One of the organizations she donates to which is not run by her is the U.S. Dream Academy, which is an after school program for children with an incarcerated parent, and has a goal is to mentor them.

There are also some smaller foundations run by her, one of which is the O Ambassadors. The O Ambassadors is a school based program, which seeks to encourage children to give and act on behalf of their peers in underdeveloped countries. Oprah also donates millions of dollars per year to this foundation, but does not cover all overhead fees.

Oprah Winfrey has accomplished many things in her life and has received many awards for all of her accomplishments. One of her biggest accomplishments was getting the morning talk show she worked on turned into the Oprah Winfrey Show in 1983 because of the high ratings on her behalf. Oprah had many great accomplishments and awards and here are some of the many:

In 1987 she won her first Emmy award for best talk show host/ best show

In 1989 she received the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People’s Entertainer of the year award.

She initiated the National Child Protection Act in 1991 by testifying in front of the U.S. Congress.

She became the first woman and first African-American on America’s 400 richest people list in 1995.

In 1998 she received the Lifetime Achievement award.

In 2002 Oprah received the Bob Hope humanitarian award for her services to television.

She was ranked 9th greatest American and was named one of the 100 most influential people of the year.

Lastly Oprah Winfrey was the first African American citizen to achieve billionaire status.

Oprah Winfrey is a very charismatic person. She shows many of the character traits and most of the character traits she shows revolve around the well-being of herself and others. One of the character traits Oprah shows is Generosity. She also has the characteristics of empathy and courage. Oprah shows lots of generosity from all the charities she donates to. She covers all running costs for all her foundations so that all the donated money gets put directly to the cause. She also has donated hundreds of millions of dollars of her own money in the past few years to multiple causes. It’s easy for Oprah Winfrey to be a very empathetic person, considering all the things she has gone through throughout her life. Donating to all the causes she does, going to South Africa to help the needy, and going over to New Orleans during the time of the hurricane all show she has empathy. These things show empathy because they show that she understands the bad things that are happening to some of these people in the world and understands that they need help and how they feel, either not having anything or losing everything they have.

Oprah shows courage all the time because she is constantly standing up for things she believes in and won’t back down. Some things that prove she has courage are things like how she was able to stay in a job she felt completely uncomfortable in because she knew it could open up doors, and how she can go and stand up to a powerful institution like the US Congress for a cause she believes in. One of the main things that shows Oprah Winfrey has courage is that she was able to get through the terrible childhood she had with things like drugs and sexual assault and is still able to be a very successful, strong, independent women.

Oprah Winfrey is a very inspirational and influential person, which many people around the world are inspired and influenced by on a daily basis. It is not her charity work nor her awards that influenced me to be a better person, but her thoughts and beliefs. The main thing that influences me to be a better person is her biggest belief -- human rights. Oprah believes in human rights for all and equality for all.

And because of her I do too. I have learned to stand up for anyone despite their race or sexuality because of Oprah. Another thing that makes me influenced by her to be a better person is that she never backs down and that she will stand up for anything she believes in. She has made me believe it is important to stand up for yourself or anything you believe in whenever it is necessary.

Overall, Oprah has influenced, inspired, and done many good things for the people of the world. And that is why Oprah Gail Winfrey should be known as a hero.