Oprah Winfrey delivers the commencement address during the Tennessee State University graduation ceremony on Saturday, May 6, 2023, in Nashville, Tenn. delighted graduates at her alma mater Tennessee State University on Saturday, telling the story of how she fell one credit short of graduating as she launched the media career that would make her a household name.
“I said, ‘No sir. TV? Not really, sir, because my father says I have to finish school, and school is just too important,’” Winfrey recalled. He spoke to her father, and Winfrey took the job. Beginning the second semester of her sophomore year, Winfrey arranged to finish her classes by 2:00 p.m. 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. curfew.