hetty the genius and madness of america's first female tycoon

They achieved success and respect in private enterprise.

Walker - each possessed a spirit to break barriers. These three women - Martha Coston, Hetty Green, and Madam C.J. They weren’t supposed to engage in business because, well, that was regarded (as it had been everywhere for centuries) as a “manly” pursuit. They couldn’t vote because they were female. Each was born into a culture that assigned the “fairer sex” to home and family life. In this Real Heroes essay, I turn our attention to three pioneering women in American business. The philosophy of liberty appeals to me because it says to all people, regardless of race, religion, place of birth, or sex, “If you want to dream, create, build, own, grow, or improve, go for it!”įEE’s founder Leonard Read expressed the credo of a free society when he called for “no man-concocted restraints against the release of peaceful, creative energy!” We’ve made progress, lots of it, toward the ideal of unshackling peaceful people from the chains of injustice and intolerance. Pick any immigrant group - Catholics, Irish, Chinese - and to a considerable extent, we’ve come to see that once-widespread prejudice against them prevented everyone else from enjoying the benefits of their productivity. Decades later, Jim Crow laws were abolished. It took decades, but we eventually ended the ancient evil of race-based slavery. He (or she) deserves to be judged by the content of his character and to pursue his dreams in the marketplace of free exchange.Īmerica in its first century offered more liberty to more people than any other place in the world, but there was still plenty of room for improvement. As we learn to reject the unwarranted prejudice that springs from collectivist stereotypes or primitive dogmas, we recognize that every individual is unique. At one time or another in every corner of the planet, almost every imaginable grouping of people has faced unfairness, unequal treatment, legal and institutional discrimination, or outright persecution.

Culture isn’t always pretty, and like almost everything else in human life, it evolves.

Hetty the genius and madness of america's first female tycoon