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Oprah on the Pressure to "Pass for White"

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After a 2001 taping of The Oprah Winfrey Show, Oprah reflected on being one of the first African Americans on national television, and on how she challenged the norm as she launched her career. She went on to address the pressure that African Americans felt to "pass for white."

Oprah explained how, when living with her mother in Milwaukee as a child, her lighter-skinned half-sister was allowed to stay inside the house while she was forced to sleep in the hallway. Watch as Oprah explores the origins of systemic racism that still exists within families and throughout society at large today.