Oprah Winfrey Speaks at 16th Annual A Candle in the Dark Gala

Oprah Winfrey shared a piece of her heart and a hefty piece of her checkbook with Morehouse College during the 137th Founder's Week. Winfrey was awarded the first ever Candle for Lifetime Achievement in Humanitarian Service Award on Saturday, February 21, 2004, at the 16th annual "A Candle in the Dark" Gala.

During her acceptance speech, the talk show host, actress, producer, magazine founder and editorial director, educator and philanthropist made another $5-million commitment to educating students at Morehouse.

The money will go toward the Oprah Winfrey Endowed Scholarship Fund and count towards the $105 million goal for the Campaign for a New Century. To date, the Oprah Winfrey Endowed Scholarship Fund has helped approximately 250 students from 20 states and seven countries continue or complete their education at Morehouse College.

"I think Oprah Winfrey expressed it best when she said: 'When you empower a Morehouse man, you empower the world,'" said Morehouse College President Walter E. Massey. "Morehouse's primary mission is to empower young men-intellectually, socially and morally-to be leaders in their careers and in their communities. We are grateful that Oprah Winfrey not only shares our passion for educating these young men, but also generously shares her resources to help us make their education possible."

In 1989, Winfrey gave the College her first gift of $1 million, which funded the Oprah Winfrey Endowed Scholarship Fund. In 1997, the year following the start of the campaign period, she made another $1 million gift to support scholarships. She gave another $5 million last year for the public launch of the campaign. Her total contribution to the College is now $12 million.

Below are excerpts of the speech Oprah made at the 16th annual "A Candle in the Dark" Gala:

Oprah on awards: In life you receive a number of accolades and attention, awards, honors. There is nothing like receiving an honor from your own people. Nothing like it.

Oprah on the ancestors: I'm here standing on the shoulders of all of those who come before me: Dr. Benjamin Mays; Dr. Martin Luther King; all of the fellow alumni of Morehouse, those whose names have made the history books, most of those whose names will not make the history books who were maids and laundresses, who were field hands and sharecroppers, who believed that this day could be possible.

I stand on their shoulders tonight and I am grateful to have this honor knowing that this honor will serve as an affirmation to me and a continued inspiration to me to know that I'm moving in the right direction. I thank you. It is my wish and my prayer.

Oprah on prayer: Before every show, I spend some time in prayer and meditation thinking about what is to be said and how I can be used. And since I was a little girl, my grandmother in Kosciusko, Mississippi, taught me-so many Mississippians here tonight-that's why I was so strong. But my grandmother taught me at an early age to always pray. "Always pray," she said. "And always pray on your knees for as long as you can bend, stay on your knees."

Oprah on Morehouse: I thank you and my prayer for Morehouse is that you will continue; that you will continue in the spirit of every field hand, every sharecropper, every maid, every factory worker, every doctor, every lawyer, every teacher, who saved, who sacrificed, who believed that sending her son, his son, to this place would make a better life for generations to come.

Someone asked me on WSB tonight, a reporter said, "Why is it with all of the opportunities that you have to give did you choose Morehouse?"
I said, "Well, that is a crazy question. Because when you empower a black man, you light up the world. When you empower a black man, you empower families. You empower his wife. You empower sons. You empower daughters. You empower nieces. You empower nephews and cousins. You light up the world."

And so when you empower a man at Morehouse and all that this place, this space, this energy has brought to itself, when you empower a man at Morehouse, you empower the world, and my prayer is that you continue.

Oprah on giving back: My dream when I first started making money was to pass it on and I wanted to have at least, to be able to put a 100 men through Morehouse and right now it's 250. I want to make it 1,000. I'm on my way to 1,000 so before I leave here tonight, I want to leave another $5 million check with Dr. Massey. (applause) That's just one thing I want to do. We're on our way to a thousand men because when you empower a black man…(applause)

But my wish is for every one of my scholars-and I think I have 21 scholars-where are you Morehouse Men? There they are, my guys, my sons, my babies. My wish is that you will continue.