iving Back: Economic Profile

Raised in poverty: Born in rural Mississippi, Oprah Winfrey spent her early childhood in extreme poverty on a farm, where she was raised by her grandmother after her mother moved to north in search of work. At age 6, Winfrey was sent to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, to live with her mother and half brothes. The family struggled to survive on her mother's monthly $50 income as a servant. Winfrey spent her early teens in and out of trouble until she wanted to live with her father in Nashville, Tennessee. Winfrey credits his strict discipline with savering her life. He requred her to learn five new vocabulary words each day and read one book per week. "Getting my library card was like citizenship," Winfrey recalls. She soon excelled in school, and in her senior year, she got a part time job reading the news for a local radio station.

The Oprah Winfrey Show: While studying speech and drama at Tennessee State Universiy, Winfrey was offered a job anchoring the evening jews at a local TV station. "Sure I was a token," she says, "but, honey, I was one happy token." After graduating in 1976, Winfrey took a job with a station in Baltimore, Maryland. When the station demoted her from news anchor to talk show host, she discovered what she was "born to do." In 1984, Winfrey noved to Chicago to take over a similar show. In 1985, it became The Oprah Winfrey Show, And the next year it began to air nationwide. By 1987, in a business dominated by white men, this African American woman had the most watched talk show in America.

Oprah Gives Back: In exploring topics related to family abuse, poverty, and oppertunity, Winfrey has confronted her own past in front of a national television audience. By offering a forum for such subjects, she has increased public awareness of important social and economic issues. Winfrey has also shared her success by contributing millions of dollars to schools and to her own Family for Better lives Foundation. Though her show, Winfrey continues to influence America's culture and economy. Oprah's Book Club, launched in 1996 and revived in 2003, encourages millions of viewers to read new novels and classic fiction. Winfrey's desire to share her favorite books has also helped the book publishing industry to prosper.