The Survivor

(The Story of Oprah Winfrey)

I have endured the same suffering for many years. I still clearly remembered how
hard life was for me. I was growing up in rural Mississipi. I was raised by my
grandmother for the first 6 years. She was only a maid, the only expectation she
held for me was I would become a maid too. My grandmother didn’t raise me to be
a happy child, she taught me to read before I was 3. She used to whip me so badly
until I had welts on my back and when the welts bled again, I’ll get another
whipped for getting blood on the dress. The worst thing about being raised by her
is that I wasn’t allowed to have any emotions about it. I remembered the first night
I entered that house, and she told me “You couldn’t sleep inside the house with
your mother.” After that, she brought me to a little porch before I actually got
inside the house. She put me outside to sleep there. As long as I live with her, I
often wore an empty potato sacks.

When I was 6 years old, my mom got a job as a maid in Milwaukee. She took me
back from my grandmother. In Milwaukee, Nothing has changed. The life that I
wanted didn’t happen. I was still struggling to survive. I had to live in the same
room with my mother and two stepsiblings, a boy and a girl. My mom was so busy
at that time. She went to work in the morning and came home at night so that we
didn’t get enough attention. I looked for many ways to get her attention. I even
tried to run away from home for many times.

One day, there was a traumatic incident that happened to me when I was 9 years
old. This incident was so hard for me to express in words. I was raped by my 19
years old cousin. I had no idea what sex was, I had no idea what happened to me.
At that time, I thought it was my fault. So I didn’t tell anyone. Day by day my life
was getting out of control. When I was 14 years old, I became pregnant, but my
son was born prematurely and died shortly after birth. This accident made me ran
away for a week. Because of that accident, my mother decided that she could no
longer took care of me. That was when she sent me to live with my dad in
Nashville.

Living with my father brought a big change in my life. I was truly afraid of him,
he’s the most disciplined person I’ve ever known. I swear, If I was able to live with
my father, I will change my life, I will show who I really am. My father, Vernon

Winfrey and my stepmother, Zelma, were honorable people in Tennessee. My

father was a barber, shop owner, city councilor, and church official. he couldn't
tolerate my negative attitude or my bad school grades. I got C grades in
Milwaukee, but only A that he could accept.

My activity changed, I started to study hard. Besides my homework from school,

every week my father and stepmother required me to write report books and ask
me for new vocabulary. At first, I hated their strict rules and high expectations. But
it turned out to be exactly what I needed, parents who set the rules and enforced
them firmly, but who also gave her the love and attention she wanted. I’ve
changed, not only in my school grades but also became more friendly and popular
than before. In high school, I was selected to represent my school at a youth
conference at the White House, and won a $1,000 scholarship for the speech I
wrote, “Negroes, the Constitution, and the United States of America.” My dad
really encouraged me to dream big, and I did.

At the age of 17, I got my first job as a news anchor at a local radio station. I’ve
got paid $100 per week, which was a lot for a high school student in 1970s. I kept
my job even after I got a scholarship to Tennessee State University and started
college. At the age of 19, I worked at a television station in Nashville to be
employed as a journalist and news anchor. Since then, I’ve started my own show.
Since then, I’ve started my own show. The Oprah Winfrey Show was my first
national show in 1986, and it quickly became the most popular show on television,
making me a black woman who rose from poverty and became the highest-paid
star.

I realized my childhood dream of becoming a film star, by acting in plays by

several brilliant writers, through his film company, Harpo Productions:
 The Color Purple (1985)
 Native Son, The Women of Brewster Place (1989)
 Before Women Had Wings(1997)
 Beloved (1998)

So, one of the reason I believe that I’ll be able to be so successfuli is I believe that
I can’t run other people’s race, I can only run mine.