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Overcoming the Odds There are a lot of people that have had bad childhood experiences and had to overcome a lot of obstacles in order to become famous and popular. In this paper, we will discuss Thomas Stonewall Jackson and Oprah Winfrey, since they both had to struggle for fame and popularity. Thomas Jonathan Jackson was born on January 21, 1824, in Clarksburg, Virginia. His education was at the U.
S. Military Academy where he learned most of his knowledge he used in the Civil War. After his graduation, which was in 1846 from West Point he was drafted in the Mexican War, until he was allowed to leave in 1848. After he was in the Mexican War, he was an instructor at the Virginia Military Institute (VMI) on the recent outbreak of the American Civil War in 1861, and he left Virginia Military Institute to go into the Confederate army. He was upgraded into a colonel and within months was given the rank of brigadier general. General Jackson got the nickname "Stonewall" from the First Battle of Bull Run (1861), where his troops stood against the Union forces "like a stonewall, " as told from Brig.
General Barnard E. Bee. While Jackson was commanding, the "Stonewall Brigade, " during a campaign in the Shenandoah Valley in the spring of 1862, Jackson made a very controversial and remarkable tactical maneuver against three Union armies. People say Jackson met his "right hand man, " General Robert E.
Lee, when they teamed up to defeat of General George McClellan in the Seven Days' Battle at Richmond. In August 1862, Jackson defeated once again in the army of General John Pope, ensuring a Confederate victory at the Second Battle of Bull Run. Jackson then crossed to the Potomac into Maryland with General Lee, who ordered him to capture Harpers Ferry. So, he did, and did a good job. His task was completed in September 1862.
Little did Jackson know that an attack was planned on him after the Rappahannock campaign in Virginia. The following spring, they were attacked on the rear columns of the Union army. Jackson tried as hard as he could to prevent the threatened encirclement of the Confederate forced by the troops of General Joseph Hooker. On May 2, 1863, while leading his forced at the Chancellorsville, Jackson was accidentally shot and killed by his own men. Today, there are still many memorials on "Stonewall" Jackson. Today, many people think of Jackson as one of the best Generals there ever was.
I, personally, think out of all the research that I did, that he is the most interesting General who served to our people and helped us to be victorious in most US activities we participated in. Stonewall Jackson was born as the third child in his family. His parents were Julia Beckwith Neale Jackson and his farther was Jonathan Jackson. Both his parents died in poverty while he was still young. He was raised by an uncle, Cummins Jacksons for the remainder of his childhood life. As a young adult, Thomas remembered his late father by taking Jonathan as his middle name.
He got married to Anna, who traveled from her parents home in North Carolina for him to see their 5 month old daughter, Julia, for the first time. Jackson was very happy to have a child. He has been orphaned at the age of 7, and spent his youth traveling all over Virginia, living with relatives and wishing he could finally have a place to call "home. " They obviously named his daughter Julia after her late grandmother. The Jackson family tried to live as normal as a life as possible.
It was very hard for them although. They lived a hard life because many people knew who he was even when he dressed in incognito. He was also gone for a lot of Julia's child hood life, and she was raised mostly by his wife, Anna. Generosity, kindness, and inspiration are just a few words that come to mind when one thinks of Oprah Winfrey.
As a role model to all people of any race, gender, or group, she has captured the hearts of millions of viewers. With her strength, beauty, and intelligence, Oprah has overcome many obstacles that have fallen in her way. Not only is she an entertainer, she is a friend to human kind. Oprah Gail Winfrey was born on January 29, 1954 in Kosciusko, Mississippi.
Her parents are Vernita Lee and Vernon Winfrey who were unwed teenagers at the time when Oprah was born. Here parents separated soon after her birth and Oprah was sent to live with her grandmother. Her grandmother was extremely religious and by the age of three, Oprah was reading the bible and reciting it in church. At the age of six Oprah was sent to Milwaukee to live with her mother. However, she was neglected and also sexually molested living a tragic childhood.
Oprah ran wild at home and her mother tried putting her in a juvenile hall. When Oprah was only fourteen years of age, she gave birth to a premature baby, who died soon after. In 1968, Oprah began turning her life around. She went to live with her father and stepmother in Nashville, Tennessee.
Her father instituted strict discipline and stressed education. Under he fathers iron fist and the new atmosphere, Oprah became and honor student and also quite popular. Two years later, when Oprah was just sixteen years old, WVOL Radio hired her to read news on the air. She was paid $ 100 per week, which was an excellent salary for a sixteen year old.
She later graduated East Nashville High School in 1971 and was voted Most Popular in her class. Oprah also won a full-ride scholarship to Tennessee State University based on her speaking ability. The same year, Oprah won the title of Miss Black Tennessee. Her first big break was in 1973 when Oprah was hired as the first African American woman ever to anchor the news at Nashville's WTVF-TV. After just three years, in 1976, she moved to Baltimore, Maryland where she was hired to host the six oclock news at WJZ-TV.
However Oprah lacked the detachment to being a reporter and was demoted from news to work as the morning talk-show host of the stations chat show the People Are Talking. She remained at this job until 1983. Oprah then moved to Illinois in 1984 to host A. M Chicago, which was scheduled opposite of Phil Donahues top-rated national talk show. Putting Phils fame behind her, Oprah earned her respect and fame through her very personal interview approach. The show became known and called the Oprah Winfrey Show.
In 1985, the show became nationally syndicated and overtook Donahue as the Nations top-rated talk show. Without any acting experience, Oprah was then cast in the movies The Color Purple and the Native Son. As Oprah's fame continued to rise, she won her first Emmy in 1987 as outstanding talk / service show host. And on February 9 what has been called Oprah's best show aired from Forsyth County, Georgia where no blacks had been allowed to live there since 1912. Oprah's shows have been such a huge success because she gets confessional and personal with the guests.
She has told national television such personal things like how she smoked cocaine or how she was molested as a child. When a story or guest moves her, she cries and welcomes them into her arms. In 1988, Oprah joined some of the great Broadcasters of all time such as Barbara Walters, Ted Koppel, and Walter Cronkite earning a Broadcaster of the year award from the International Television and Radio Society. She then gained ownership and control of her show from Chicago's ABC-TV station WLS, and began producing it in the fall. Although between her success and stardom, Oprah hit a period in time with many obstacles to face. She was constantly battling with her weight as it fluctuated from over 200 pounds to 150.
Oprah's longtime assistant Billy Rizzo died of AIDS along with her half brother Jeffery Lee, just a year later. Oprah also produced and starred in a weekly television show called Brewster's place. She thought that the show would be a huge success but it closed just after ten weeks. Overcoming the obstacles might be harder for some people to do than for others, however only those who get a grip and continue to fight will succeed.
Words Count: 1, 408. Bibliography: Berube, A. Becoming Famous in Contemporary America. New York: Free Press, 1999. Carney, R. Oprah Show: the Origins.
Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2001. Davis, M. How to Coop with Popularity. New York: Harper Perennial, 2000. Fielding, I. The Civil War.
Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1999. Robertson, J. Stonewall Jackson: The Man, The Soldier, The Legend. New York: Harper Collins, 1997.
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Research essay sample on Battle Of Bull Run Oprah Winfrey
