In Finding Oprah's Roots (2007), featuring Henry Louis Gates, Jr.'s search
for answers to questions about Black genealogy, Gates explains that one of
Oprah's grandfathers stopped his formal schooling at an early age to
work on a plantation so that he could help provide an education and
opportunity for his sister instead. The grandfather did this in an attempt
to protect his sister so that she could escape rape and other forms of
gender oppression from both White men and women. Gates's explanation
reflects both the way that gender, sexuality, and race defined life in the
old South and their consequences for Black life, Black relationships, and
Black destinies. This personal sacrifice, in defense of Black women, was
commonplace—not at all particular to Oprah Winfrey's family. In
fact, John Gwaltney collected several essays of Black men and women
describing similar actions in his book Drylongso (1981).