Oprah Winfrey: My Inspiration

Who is Oprah Winfrey? To many, Oprah is an internationally loved talk show host. While this is definitely a true statement, Oprah was much more than this to me when I was growing up. I am an African American woman who was adopted into a white family when I was eighteen months old. With these circumstances, most of the people I looked up to were white as well. That is until one day when I was watching television with my mom and The Oprah Winfrey Show came on. I was in awe of her and it was so amazing for me to see all of the different types of people in the crowd who loved her. From that point on, I would watch Oprah’s show anytime it came on. Seeing a woman of color be so loved by the public and have accrued so much success for herself was very meaningful to me and made me feel empowered. Watching her show made me realize that I could be whatever I wanted to be, and this was pivotal in my understanding and finding myself as a young black girl. Oprah was so inspirational to me that I even dressed up and performed as her in the wax museum at school. Even today as I have grown and experienced many things, Oprah still inspires me to embrace my blackness and my woman hood and these are things that I would not truly be me without. Writer, Barbara Grizzuti Harrison, wrote the following for The New York Times: “In a racist society, the minority needs, and seeks, from time to time, proof that they are loved by the majority whom they have so long been oppressed by, feared exaggeratedly by, and treated with real or assumed disdain by. … Oprah Winfrey – a one-person demilitarized zone – has served that purpose.” While this article was written in the year 1989, this idea is still relevant and it is vital that our society recognizes this and pays true attention to black feelings. Oprah helped me to understand my black feelings and to this day is a true inspiration in my life. I am forever grateful to have her as a role model.