Why would anyone attack a self-made American like Rick Jackson?

There is something deeply strange about an argument that begins by acknowledging an extraordinary story of perseverance and ends by suggesting that the very idea of being self-made is an American myth we ought to be suspicious of.

This should give to all who read Mary McCartin Wearn’s recent guest opinion column in the AJC a complete and total pause. (“Rick Jackson claims to be a self-made man. Let’s unpack this American myth”).

Yes, nobody succeeds completely alone. Every successful person has teachers, mentors, employees, customers, family members, friends and institutions that play some role in the journey.

But that doesn’t make the term “self-made” meaningless. Nor does it make it a bad thing or an American myth.

When Americans call someone self-made, they are not saying that person was raised in a house in the middle of nowhere and manufactured every dollar, skill and opportunity without another human being’s assistance.

They are saying something much more straightforward: the individual takes responsibility for turning opportunity into achievement. The individual took agency of his or her life to make something of that life. That distinction matters.

Stories of self-made success: Walker, Johnson and Winfrey

Consider three extraordinary African Americans.

Madam C.J. Walker was born to formerly enslaved parents, was orphaned as a child, became a widow and worked as a washerwoman before building a hair-care business that made her one of America’s most celebrated self-made millionaires.

She didn’t do it alone. She had mentors, employees, customers and people who helped her along the way. But nobody gave her the business she ultimately built. Her initiative, salesmanship, determination and willingness to take risks turned an opportunity into an empire.

Robert L. Johnson built Black Entertainment Television with Sheila Johnson. BET eventually became the first Black-owned company listed on the New York Stock Exchange, and its sale to Viacom made Johnson America’s first Black billionaire. Forbes explicitly classified his wealth as self-made.

Oprah Winfrey grew up in poverty in rural Mississippi and eventually transformed a television career into a media empire. Forbes currently identifies her source of wealth as television and classifies her as self-made.

Consider three extraordinary African Americans.

Madam C.J. Walker was born to formerly enslaved parents, was orphaned as a child, became a widow and worked as a washerwoman before building a hair-care business that made her one of America’s most celebrated self-made millionaires.

She didn’t do it alone. She had mentors, employees, customers and people who helped her along the way. But nobody gave her the business she ultimately built. Her initiative, salesmanship, determination and willingness to take risks turned an opportunity into an empire.

Robert L. Johnson built Black Entertainment Television with Sheila Johnson. BET eventually became the first Black-owned company listed on the New York Stock Exchange, and its sale to Viacom made Johnson America’s first Black billionaire. Forbes explicitly classified his wealth as self-made.

Oprah Winfrey grew up in poverty in rural Mississippi and eventually transformed a television career into a media empire. Forbes currently identifies her source of wealth as television and classifies her as self-made.

Nobody seriously argues that Walker, Johnson or Winfrey never received help. And no one who will vote for Georgia Democratic gubernatorial nominee Keisha Lance Bottoms, as is their right, would allow anyone to minimize her accomplishments to an “American myth.” That’s not the point.

The point is that they did something with the help they received.

And note, Winfrey has on several occasions spoken about the mother she barely knew. She recalled in a 2025 interview about “being asked to come to speak about her mother at a church” and realizing she had no positive accolades to give.

I guess we can say Oprah should have “made up good words” to protect her mom’s legacy.

But that is precisely why the criticism of the self-made concept becomes problematic. However, there is a difference between acknowledging the people who helped you and denying your own agency.

Agency, decisions, work and ambition all matter to success

In fact, telling successful people that their success isn’t really theirs can become an insult to the very thing that made their success possible: agency and self. The foster parent can provide the home. The teacher can provide the lesson. The mentor can open the door. The investor can provide the capital.

But somebody still has to walk through the door.

Somebody needs to do the work.

Somebody needs to make the decision.

Somebody needs to take the risk.

Somebody needs to fail and get back up.

That is what people mean when they talk about being self-made.

The argument that “no one is self-made” can sound innocent, but taken too far it becomes strangely dismissive of individual achievement. If every accomplishment is primarily attributed to the surrounding ecosystem, what happens to personal responsibility?

And that is the number one failing of liberalism: The idea that one has no personal responsibility for their life. That people need the government to succeed.

Chastising self-made people is anathema to virtually every successful person — and especially to anyone who hopes to become successful.

The young entrepreneur doesn’t hear “you are part of a community” and object. Of course they are.

What they need to hear is: You have agency. Your decisions matter. Your work matters. Your ambition matters.

Tell a young person that circumstances matter, and you are telling them something true. And for the kid growing up in poverty, the aspiring entrepreneur with an idea, the young person who wants to build a business or the worker who wants to change his family’s economic trajectory, there is nothing dangerous about telling them: “Your circumstances matter. Other people matter. Your community matters … but so do you.”

Also, tell them that circumstances determine their destiny, and you may be taking away something far more important: the belief they can change those circumstances. And that is never told to young people nor should it be.