Likely in order to escape scrutiny and not wanting to be the target of some greedy partys act, Her story spread throughout the national news, with both Black and white papers dubbing her The Richest Negro Girl in the World.. Shes known as the first Black female millionaire to live in Kansas City, Missouri. Newspaper articles reporting Sarahs rags to riches story and the NAACP investigation sparked a number of international marriage proposals when Sarah was just 13, some from white men seeking to control her growing oil empire. If you're unfamiliar with the story, The Richest Black Girl in America is set in the early 1900s, and follows the true tale of Sarah Rector, an 11-year-old Black girl in Jim Crow America, who is given reparations in the form of uninhabitable land by the U.S. government.Although initially the land seemed useless, "a misplaced band-aid on Under the laws of the time, black parents were not automatically given guardianship of their own children. The couple had three sons and were recognized as local royalty, driving expensive cars and entertaining elites like Joe Louis, Duke Ellington, and Count Basie at their home. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. PO Box 54309 A record 13 feet of snow accumulated in the Serra de Tramuntana mountain range by Tuesday evening - the heaviest snow fall since 1985. Rector Family PhotographSarah Rector moved to Kansas City in 1917, where she finished high school and stayed for the rest of her life. The paper allegedly embellished details about the Rectors, saying that they lived in a shack, which generated concern from Black leaders like W.E.B. Jones produced a gusher on her land that brought in 2,500 barrels or 105,000 gallons per day. Jeff Bezos is the founder of both Amazon, the worlds largest retailer, and Blue Origin. But the land given to the Freedmen was of generally inferior quality rocky and unfit for farming, hardly worth the tax burden. The fallacies kept cropping up and, worst of all, that pesky photo. Her siblings all took on jobs- her mother even for a time went back to working as a maid. 1886), and by 1907, they were living in a two-room cabin outside of Taft, population 250, on Roses land allotment. Strapped for cash, Rectors father leased his daughters parcel to a major oil company in February 1911 to help him pay the $30 annual property tax. In September 1913, The Kansas City Star local newspaper published the headline, Millions to a Negro Girl Sarah Rector, 10-Year Old, Has Income of $300 A Day From Oil, reports Face 2 Face Africa. John Rector's mother Mollie McQueen was the Muscogee Opothleyahola, who fought in the Seminole Wars and split with the tribe, moving his followers to Kansas. [14], Soon after moving to Kansas City, when she was 17 or 18, she married local businessman Kenneth Campbell in 1920. After the Stock Market Crash, a major dent was put into the finances of the Rector family. was an adman and salesman. [1] The wedding was a very private affair with only her mother and Campbell's paternal grandmother present. reset to default font size (Bolden said she found the disputed book cover photo in The American magazine. [11] Given her wealth, in 1913, the Oklahoma Legislature made an effort to have her declared white, allowing Rector to reap the benefits of her elevated social standing, such as riding in a first-class car on the trains.[4]. Oklahoma City, OK 73154-1309, Portraits of African American businesswoman Sarah Rector | Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons. Around the same time, two children of Freedmen whose allotments had spouted oil were murdered by dynamite as they slept. WebWhen 11-year-old Sarah Rector in Jim Crow America discovers a seemingly worthless plot of land she has inherited is worth millions, everything in her life changes and the walls begin to close in. and came with a royalty if a splash or two of oil happened to be found. The 12-year-old was soon receiving marriage proposals from suitors as far away as Germany. That equates to $7,000 $8,000 today. W.E.B. 1902) and Joe, Jr. (b. Even after Sarah and Becky left for Alabama for better schooling, the newspapers reported that they were living in a tent. Her memory of Aunt Sister is all about family. Soon after arriving to Kansas City, the Rectors bought a sprawling stone foursquare at the corner of 2000 East 12th Street. There are few records of abuses and attempted abuses suffered by Sarah and other child landowners, but her wealth and property rights made her a target for exploitation. To be clear, Sarah still had quite a bit of money, but she didnt have the ability to throw money around like she had once. Forbes magazine estimated the Queens net worth at around $500 million (about 325 million) in 2011, while an analysis by the Bloomberg Billionaires Index put it at $425 million (about 275 million) in 2015. Joe Rector also began receiving payments of about $50 a month about $1,500 in todays dollars. She also owned stocks and bonds, a boarding house, a bakery and restaurant in Muskogee, Oklahoma, and 2,000 acres of land. Many turned out to be thieves. The Wichita BeaconNewspaper articles about Sarah Rector spread throughout America and were filled with the casual racism of the era. Many stores, including Emery, Bird, Thayer & Co., would close down and allow the Rector women to shop freely. BE 100s Another newspaper dubbed her the richest negro in the world. Her fame became widespread and she received numerous requests for loans, money gifts, and four marriage proposals. Later, she sounded frustrated. At this time, the government was doling out the last of the Indian allotments before Oklahoma was admitted as a state. (Museum officials did not respond to a request for comment for this story.). When she was pulled over in her shiny green and black Cadillac, Sarah would cockily turn to the officer and say, Dont you know who I am?!. The NAACP was able to convince the Rectors to send Sarah to the Tuskegee Institutes elementary school called the Childrens Home. In turn, Joe was able to talk his wife (allegedly) into paying his $8,000 bond plus $2,000 in expenses to go to Tampico, Mexico and get his half. Sarah Rector died in 1967 from a stroke at the age of 65. Newspaper articles about Sarah Rector spread throughout America and were filled with the casual racism of the era. A horse and buggy were purchased to spare the children the two-mile trek to school. More intriguing, what happened to this young African American woman who was part of the Creek [Indian] freedmen? Connecting Oklahoma's Electric Cooperative Communities, Mailing Address: Sarah's father Joseph was the son of John Rector, a Creek Freedman. There, the Rectors eventually moved into a home that was a far cry from that weather-whipped two-room cabin in which Sarah began life. The Muskogee Cimeter, a black Oklahoma newspaper declared, It takes an awful big man to give the Negro a square deal and Muskogees judge is such a man.. In return for that and otherwise assimilating to Anglo-American culture, White Southerners often called them the Five Civilized Tribes.. Some of these statements are partially true, but the true story of Sarah should be told through her family. By the time Sarah was 18, she was worth well over one million dollars. The federal government required the appointment of financial guardians, usually White men, to manage the oil wealth of Native Americans and Freedmen. Since 1970, BLACK ENTERPRISE has provided essential business information and advice to professionals, corporate executives, entrepreneurs, and decision makers. Web5 Advantages Of In-Home Therapy And Rehabilitation Best Tyre Brands for Your Car NFL COVID PROTOCOLS: OUTBREAK POSTPONES STEELERS-TITANS Whats the Sarah Rector was 11 when oil was discovered on her land in Oklahoma in 1913. Black newspapers at the time, like the Chicago Defender in 1914, were angered by this takeover. WebShe recalls once during the Hotel California tour when Henley flew her in a cranberry-colored jet to the Omni in Atlanta to watch the show. Thats the way she would put it. Rector became a millionaire after oil was drilled on her land. Sarah Rector was not immune from the Great Depression, however, which cost her most of her fortune and Sarah Rectors net worth at the time of her death is a matter of debate and speculation. Sarah Rector was buried in Taft Cemetery, Oklahoma. Since then, shes been contacting historical societies to urge them not to use the image. Sarahs luck hit in part because of her ancestry and the way in which land allotments for Native Americans- and their freedmen slaves- occurred in Oklahoma. about $11 million By 1922, Sarah was able to make her own decisions, and she married her first husband that year. This raised all sorts of concerns among the Black community who believed this man would rip Sarah off her fortune. For their part, Black-owned newspapers, including the influential Chicago Defender, speculated anxiously that Rectors White guardian was taking advantage of her and shortchanging her education. 1901-1967), a native of Oklahoma and a woman known as the first black female millionaire to live in Kansas City, lived in this American foursquare at 2000 East 12th Street. Her maternal great-great-grandmother had been enslaved by Creek Chief Opothle Yoholo in Alabama during the first half of the 19th century, according to Tonya Bolden, author of Searching for Sarah Rector: The Richest Black Girl in America published in 2014. Upon graduation, she attended the Institute. Sarah and her siblings were perfectly content staying in Taft and living a somewhat normal life, but that didnt seem to be the idea of those outsiders looking in. Porter, an individual known to the family. We have things we would like to share with everyone., Today, their history is kept alive by relentless Rector women making sure their story from now on is told right.. Du Bois himself got involved, hoping to verify this story and rectify any injustice done to Sarah. Women of Power Summit Ironically, this government prohibition proved to be the familys greatest blessing. Mansa Musa, who may have been the richest person ever. Privacy Policy Rector and her family where African American members of the Muscogee Creek Nation who lived in a modest cabin in the predominantly black town of Taft, Oklahoma, which, at the time, was considered Indian Territory. Sarah wound up marrying a former college football player she met in Kansas City. Along with the oil, the checks began flowing, as if by magic, to the Rectors, who, illiterate and barely scraping by, knew little about managing money. Rectors lost most of her wealth during The Great Depression. National African American leaders such asBooker T. Washington andW.E.B. At that point, she left Tuskegee and, with her entire family, moved to Kansas City, Missouri. When Sarahs popularity grew, her parents were forced to give up their guardianship status to a white man named T.J. Porter. In 1913, 11-year-old Sarah Rector became the richest Black girl in America, almost by accident. This is Sarah Rector, she said. Wikimedia CommonsThrough sheer chance Sarah Rector became one of the richest children in America. 1. Who is the poorest person in the world? Sarah Ferguson says the late Queen was her 'total idol' and 'put you at ease straightaway' - and admits when her corgis 'bark at nothing' she 'believes it's the monarch 5 Advantages Of In-Home Therapy And Rehabilitation, NFL COVID PROTOCOLS: OUTBREAK POSTPONES STEELERS-TITANS. Its this legacy that Brown saw herself paying tribute to about 12 years ago when she began with the help of her sisters and partner, Karen Riffle, to document Sarah Rectors life. This raised concerns throughout the Black community including the recently formed NAACP, who became interested in assuring her guardian wouldnt rip her off her fortune. She died on July 22, 1967, and she only had some oil wells working and some real estate holdings. In fact, both women appeared to have a bit of a lead foot. Couple Whose Gender Reveal Party Triggered A Catastrophic Forest Fire Now Face Charges, Inside The Gruesome Murder Of Mark Kilroy At The Hands Of A Satanic Cult, What Stephen Hawking Thinks Threatens Humankind The Most, 27 Raw Images Of When Punk Ruled New York, Join The All That's Interesting Weekly Dispatch. Since he could not sell the land, Joseph Rector decided to lease it out to a Pittsburgh oil company. Likely in order to escape scrutiny and not wanting to be the target of some greedy partys act, Sarahs family secretly slipped away and moved north to Kansas City by 1917. Mama Rose, as her family called her, was in charge of Sarahs money until she was able to get control at the age of 20. When a change to Oklahoma law raised the legal age from 18 to 21, a local white man attempted to make himself the young millionaires legal guardian. At that point, she left Tuskegee and, with her entire family, moved to Kansas City, Missouri. About She is interred in Blackjack Cemetery in her childhood hometown of Taft.[17]. High-Paid in Hollywood: 8 of the Richest Black Actors in 2021. Meet Sarah Rector, the 11-Year-Old Who Became The Richest Black Girl in America in 1913. To raise enough money to pay the $30 annual tax bill, Sarahs father, Joseph Rector, leased her allotment to the Devonian Oil Company of Pittsburg in 1911. 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