WOMEN'S HISTORY MONTH: SHIRLEY AJAYI-CARROLL, THE FIRST AFRICAN AMERICAN PSYCHIC GIVEN A PART ON A TV SHOW (5629 hits)
Shirley Ajayi-Carroll was the first African American woman given a part on a television show as a psychic.
Shirley Ajayi-Carroll was born in 1959 to a Caucasian father (an Air Force veteran) and an African American mother. Her early life was very unusual in that her parents divorced when she was 8 years old.
Shirley, her mother and 3 siblings went to live with a religious psychic medium nicknamed "Reverend Bo-Bo". Reverend Bo-Bo took a liking to Shirley right away and noticed her extra unusual obsession with details and that she had a gift of second sight.
Reverend Bo-Bo did not want children to be at the readings she did at her home, but she had no choice. Shirley hid and listened in anyway to the psychic readings held primarily in Reverend Bo-Bo's kitchen and later in her private parlor or basement. Reverend Bo-Bo eventually let Shirley do the same type of readings in her church when she grew up.
After Shirley graduated from University of Illinois in Urbana, with advanced degrees in Education, her gift of second sight flourished, and in September 1986 she received a call from "The Bears" television show about auditioning for a part as a sports psychic.
The show lasted for about one year (actually six months) in Chicago, Illinois since the show was seasonal. Shirley started her career the minute a prediction she made on the show about sports came true.
She was renamed ‘Aura’ and hired to do the remaining shows for six months.
Shirley is also a former Chicago elementary school teacher, an executive producer and host of Aura's Rap, Rhyme & Arithmetic television show, and is also famous for starting Sirmir Incorporated, a non-profit organization that believes in "Healing Through The Arts" for children, teens and young adults in Chicago, Illinois.
Shirley is also a distant cousin to Oprah Winfrey who also was on television in Chicago around the same year 1986!
