"I don't think of myself as a poor deprived ghetto girl who made good," entertainment mogul and actress Oprah Winfrey told Ms. reporter Joan Barthel. "I think of myself as somebody who from an early age knew I was responsible for myself, and I had to make good." Nevertheless, Oprah--she is one of those rarefied figures who needs no last name to identify her--has transcended a difficult childhood as well as the barriers of sex and race to become one of world's premier media figures. "I've always believed that, as Jesse Jackson says, excellence is the best deterrent to racism and sexism," she told Barthel. "The greatest contribution you can make to women's rights, to civil rights, is to be the absolute damnedest best at what you do." Doing her best has led Oprah to unprecedented success as an Oscar-nominated actress, film and television producer, and host of...