The United States is “not a finished product,” she said. They were reinstated on an interim basis by their local city councils within days and now face a special election to regain their seats. The Republican majority expelled the two young Black Democratic lawmakers last month after they breached decorum by protesting for stricter gun laws from the House floor. Justin Jones and Justin Pearson who are “using their lives to prove the cynics wrong.” But she held up the examples of Tennessee state Reps. “Unfortunately, you are going to encounter people who insist that it's not actually possible to make any difference,” she said.

Winfrey told the class of 2023 they are living in a difficult time in many ways. “Every right move I've made has come from listening deeply and following that still, small voice.' That way “you begin to know your own heart and figure out what matters most,” Winfrey said. Her success in life has come from God's grace and from listening to what she called the “still, small voice' inside while filtering out the noise of the world. “So I got my degree from Tennessee State, right around the time I got my third Emmy,” Winfrey said. But her father would not let go of the topic, asking her for years, “‘When you going to get that degree?’” she said.įinally in 1988, she was allowed to write a paper and submit some of her shows for the final credit. So she wasn't terribly distressed to learn that she was one credit short and would not be able to graduate. curfew.īy the end of her senior year in 1975, Winfrey's career was in full swing. so she could work at the television station from 2:30 to 10:30 and be home by her father's 11:00 p.m. Beginning the second semester of her sophomore year, Winfrey arranged to finish her classes by 2:00 p.m. He spoke to her father, and Winfrey took the job.

She then went back to class and related the conversation to her scene design professor who “looked at me as if I didn't have the brains that God gave lettuce,” Winfrey said.

Sign up for NBC Philadelphia newsletters. Get Philly local news, weather forecasts, sports and entertainment stories to your inbox.

Just listen dessen