From the Church House to the Court House: Freda J. Day Shares Her Four-Year Copyright Infringement Court Battle With Oprah Winfrey.
Author Freda J. Day joins Black Writer Therapy to discuss her memoir, From the Green Leaf to Greener Pastures, her legal fight connected to the OWN Network hit family saga drama, Greenleaf (June 21, 2016, to August 11, 2020), and the pain of believing her intellectual property was used without permission, credit, or proper channels.
For Freda, the hurt ran deeper because it involved Oprah Winfrey someone she says she trusted enough to send her book to, and someone many Black women have regarded as a symbol of possibility, visibility, and cultural power.
In this conversation, Freda shares why the alleged IP theft felt personal, what it cost her to fight for recognition, and what independent Black women writers need to know about protecting their stories.
Key Topics
- Erasure of Black women’s contributions to the literary world.
- The importance of protecting intellectual property for indie authors
- Frida Day’s willingness to take on the communications mogul, Oprah Winfrey for allegedly using material from her memoir without permission.