The American Nation A History of the United States, Combined Volume (14th Edition)

Has your family overcome adversity?

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With nearly $3 billion in assets, Oprah Winfrey is the

richest self-made woman in America. Her great-great-

grandfather, Constantine Winfrey, was an illiterate slave

in Sanford, Mississippi. On gaining his freedom in 1865,

he owned little more than a strong back and a knowl-

edge of cotton farming. But within fifteen years, he had

learned to read and write and was owner of several

farms and over 100 acres of land.

Whoopi Goldberg, another prominent black

woman TV host and actress, is the great-great-grand-

daughter of William Washington and Elsa Tucker, slaves

who were living in Alachua County, Florida when Lee

surrendered at Appomattox. Over the next decade, the

couple fulfilled the demanding provisions of the

Southern Homestead Act, passed by the Republican-

dominated Congress in 1866. They located an eligible

plot of land, tracked down a federal registrar and paid

the filing fees, enclosed the land with a fence, built a

house, planted and harvested a crop, and paid prop-

erty taxes.

Chris Rock, comedian and actor, is the great-great-

grandson of Julius Caesar Tingman, a slave in South