Winfrey, Oprah Gail
1954- · Contribution: 1986-2011
First Black woman billionaire; built one of the most influential and highest-rated talk shows in American television history
Portraits are AI-generated interpretations, not photographs.
Impact on the world
Hosted 'The Oprah Winfrey Show' for 25 seasons from 1986 to 2011, building a media empire that made her the world's first Black woman billionaire in 2003, and in 2018 became the first Black woman to receive the Golden Globes' Cecil B. DeMille lifetime achievement award, using her acceptance speech to spotlight the Me Too movement and the importance of a free press.
Life & background
Born in rural Kosciusko, Mississippi, Winfrey endured a difficult adolescence marked by sexual abuse by multiple relatives and family acquaintances before moving to Nashville to live with her father, a barber and businessman. She studied speech communication and performing arts at Tennessee State University while competing in pageants, then built a career in local television news before launching her own nationally syndicated talk show in 1986, which ran for 25 seasons and became one of the highest-rated programs of its kind in American television history. Her media holdings, including the Oprah Winfrey Network and a lifestyle magazine brand, made her the first Black woman billionaire in 2003, and she received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from Barack Obama in 2013. In 2018 she became the first Black woman to receive the Golden Globes' Cecil B. DeMille Award, using her speech to recall being inspired watching Sidney Poitier honored at the same ceremony decades earlier, before addressing the Me Too movement and declaring that a new day was on the horizon for the girls watching. She later produced 'Sidney,' a 2022 documentary about Poitier's life and legacy.
Sources
- Encyclopædia Britannica; The White House (Presidential Medal of Freedom, 2013)
More in Arts, Music & Entertainment Tech
Ailey, Alvin Jr.
1931-1989
Founded the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in 1958, creating a lasting home for Black dancers and choreographing 'Revelations,' one of the most performed ballets in the world
Allen, Debbie (Deborah Kaye)
1950-
Tony-winning choreographer and dancer who served as principal choreographer of 'Fame'; founded the Debbie Allen Dance Academy in 2001, training thousands of young dancers regardless of financial background
Anderson, Marian
1897-1993
One of the finest contraltos of the twentieth century and a landmark civil-rights figure; the first Black singer to perform with the Metropolitan Opera, whose 1939 open-air concert at the Lincoln Memorial—after she was barred from Constitution Hall because of her race—became a defining moment of the era.
Armstrong, Louis Daniel
1901-1971
Transformed jazz from collective ensemble playing into a soloist's art form through his revolutionary 1920s Hot Five and Hot Seven recordings, establishing the trumpet as jazz's premier solo instrument and pioneering scat singing, while later becoming, as “Satchmo,” one of the most beloved entertainers in American history