Black History Month: Past, Present & Future (Oprah Winfrey)

OPRAH WINFREY (1954-Present) - Oprah is, after all, every single thing. First African-American female billionaire. Academy Award-winner for her international humanitarian efforts. Host of one of the most celebrated and longest-running daytime talk shows in television history. Owner of a self-named 24-hour cable network. Broadway musical producer and screen actress. Book publishing and literary guru with a best-selling Midas touch. Star maker of countless television hosts and self-help gurus (Dr. Phil, Iyanla Vanzant, Dr. Oz, Suze Orman, Nate Berkus, Rachael Ray, Bob Greene and Gayle King). Cover girl on every single issue of O, The Oprah Magazine since its debut in April 2000 (making her one of the most influential cover models in publishing history).

But truth be told, had Oprah gotten into the TV business 10 years earlier, the Mississippi-born philanthropist wouldn’t have been let anywhere near the throne: She wasn’t white, blonde, thin or male. When The Oprah Winfrey Show went into national syndication in 1986, she yanked Phil Donahue’s self-help ball and turned TV into something new.

With success comes an inevitable cascade of hateration, most of which Oprah manages to side-eye. Her generosity, especially for educational endeavors, is legendary. Mama Oprah, who is famously never-married and childless, funded a girls-only private school in South Africa and tuition gifts to more than 415 Morehouse College students. She even used her televised bully pulpit to endorse then-Sen. Barack Obama’s presidential campaign in 2008, and was rewarded with great ratings and close relationship with the president and first lady Michelle Obama that paid off handsomely over the eight years of their White House stay.