Joe ended up quite satisfied when he was able to lease Sarahs land to an oil company where he received a bonus of $160. Two years later, Rectors fortune took a major turn when independent oil driller B.B. They had a lavish life and were part of the elite of the time. By then, Rector owned stocks and bonds, a boarding house, a bakery and the Busy Bee Caf in Muskogee, Okla. The family didnt leave Kansas City as some like to report; five generations of Rector descendants still call this place home. Du Bois, who got involved with Sarah Rectors case when he heard rumors her money was being mismanaged by a white man. 1901), Sarah (b. Her marriage to Campbell ended in 1930, and in 1934 she married William Crawford. The Smithsonian can count on it, she said: Shell be back in touch. Now, Forbes has released its 2021 list of the top 10 richest women in the world and in first place is LOreal heiress Franoise Bettencourt Meyers, with a staggering net worth of US$92.9 billion. Rector died at the age of 65 on July 22, 1967. Several speeding tickets were issued to both of themespecially to Sarah. Two years after Sarahs piece of land was leased to the oil company an independent driller hit a massive reserve of oil capable of producing 2,500 barrels of oil and todays equivalent of $7,000 for Sarahs pockets every day. 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. In 1913, however, her fortunes changed when wildcat oil driller B. Alice Walton, the daughter of the Walmart founder, was ranked second with 61.8 billion U.S. dollars in net worth. Sarah Rector was fortunate in that her guardian did not take advantage of her wealth and that the local law protected her (many other black children wound up being scammed out of their wealth or far worse). Connecting oklahoma's electric cooperative communities. WebWhat happened to Daryl Hall and Sara Allen? You can leave them as donations, one of the women politely told her. For the first time, Brown heard the word: oil. . His petition was denied because of certain restrictions placed on the land, so he was required to continue paying the taxes. Even as tens of thousands of Native Americans were forcibly relocated northwest to Indian Territory from 1831 to 1850 in the genocidal journey known as The Trail of Tears, the tribes largely sided with the Confederate states during the Civil War. She also owned stocks and bonds, a boarding house, a bakery and restaurant inMuskogee, Oklahoma, and 2,000 acres of land. Soon, the wells, which would come to number in the dozens, were pumping 2,500 gallons a day, with about $300 a day a 12.5 percent cut flowing Sarahs way, Bolden writes. BLACK ENTERPRISE is the premier business, investing, and wealth-building resource for African Americans. Soon, the NAACP and W.E.B. Jeff Bezos is the founder of both Amazon, the worlds largest retailer, and Blue Origin. Mansa Musa I: The Richest Man In History Was An African King, Not Jeff Bezos. Porter, an individual known to the family. But it definitely isnt her.. China is a responsible major country that is always willing to play a constructive role and has sincerity and goodwill in actively promoting peace talks, according to Global Times.. Since the outbreak of the The federal government required the appointment of financial guardians, usually White men, to manage the oil wealth of Native Americans and Freedmen. 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. Certainly, the spending coupled with what Brown believes was little understanding of managing money didnt help. He wrote of her white financial guardian: Is it not possible to have her cared for in a decent manner and by people of her own race, instead of by a member of a race which would deny her and her kind the treatment accorded a good yard dog? 1886), and by 1907, they were living in a two-room cabin outside of Taft, population 250, on Roses land allotment. All Rights Reserved. One of his slaves was Mollie, Sarah Rectors great-grandmother. Joe Rector also began receiving payments of about $50 a month about $1,500 in todays dollars. Sarah Rector moved to Kansas City in 1917, where she finished high school and stayed for the rest of her life. The NAACP was able to convince the Rectors to send Sarah to the Tuskegee Institutes elementary school called the Childrens Home. [12] Thus, as soon as Rector began to receive this windfall, there was pressure to change Rector's guardianship from her parents to a local white resident named T.J. (or J.T.) When Rector died at age 65 on July 22, 1967, her wealth was diminished, but she still had some working oil wells and real estate holdings. Born as the daughter of freedmen in 1902, Sarah Rector rose from humble beginnings to reportedly become the wealthiest black girl in the nation at the age of 11. The Rector Mansion use to belong to Sarah Rector, the richest 12-year-old Black American at that time. Were from a generation where you dont spread family business, said Brown, a very fit-looking 72-year-old with a short afro seated in the lobby of the Hampton Inn in Bowie, Md. Connecting Oklahoma's Electric Cooperative Communities, Mailing Address: This prompted Du Bois to establish the Children's Department of the NAACP, which would investigate claims of white guardians who were suspected of depriving black children of their land and wealth. [4] In June of that year, a special agent for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), James C. Waters Jr., sent a memo to Du Bois regarding her situation. Brown assumes so. A guardian was appointed to manage young Sarahs income, and a judge oversaw the guardian. The two photos side-by-side, one of a child in a plaid dress and the other of a woman with her hair pulled simply back, have been timelessly interpreted to be the richest black girl in America, Sarah Rector the very same Sarah Rector who lived out the majority of her life in Kansas City. By 1922, Sarah was able to make her own decisions, and she married her first husband that year. Sarah had five siblings and although they lived in relatively good conditions, they werent a wealthy family that could just start a millionaire business. The Wichita BeaconNewspaper articles about Sarah Rector spread throughout America and were filled with the casual racism of the era. But instead of hearing that Porter was taking advantage of Sarah in the manner described, Du Bois was reassured. According to the Amsterdam News, Rector and her family sought to end Porters guardianship and were ultimately successful. Beckys land was in Okfuskee County, and Sarah and Joe, Jr. ended up with parcels 50 miles northwest of Taft. 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. The Rector family actually lived far better than advertised. This was an irrevocable law so that Oklahoma could be integrated into US territory. She is interred in Blackjack Cemetery in her childhood hometown of Taft.[17]. The most important part of this saga is the simple fact that her family got lost within the tabloids tabloids worldwide that painted a picture of a poor little black girl from Oklahoma who slept on dirt floors, struck it rich, was taken advantage of and lived frivolously. and last updated 8:53 PM, Mar 02, 2021 KANSAS CITY, Mo. Sarah Rector was 11 when oil was discovered on her land in Oklahoma in 1913. She also owned stocks and bonds, a boarding house, a bakery and restaurant in Muskogee, Oklahoma, and 2,000 acres of land. She died in 1967 at age 65 and was buried in Taft. She died on July 22, 1967, and she only had some oil wells working and some real estate holdings. Diane Euston writes a regular history column regarding the Kansas City area on her blog The New Santa Fe Trailer. Currently, no one has yet claimed trillionaire status, although some of the worlds richest individuals may only be a few years away from this milestone. (Museum officials did not respond to a request for comment for this story.). 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. BE 100s She owned stocks, bonds, a boarding house, businesses, and a 2,000-acre piece of prime river bottomland. Historically, racism has managed to create a well-functioning system to perpetuate ideas of race superiority and oppression towards those considered inferior to them. [6] Sarah Rector was allotted 159.14 acres (64 hectares). Whether youre a lifelong resident of D.C. or you just moved here, weve got you covered. Today, people refer to the house inaccurately as the Sarah Rector Mansion when the truth is her mother purchased it and her whole family lived there. In 1922, she married Kenneth Campbell, the second African American to own an auto dealership. 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. Any oil produced would give a 12.5 percent royalty to the land owner. By the time she turned 18, Rector was worth an estimated $1 million, or about $11 million today. If you continue to use this site we will assume that you are happy with it. Rector, whose relatives had been enslaved by Creek Indians and later lived among the tribes members in Oklahoma, was just 11 in 1913 when Black Gold was discovered on her allotment of tribal land. The truth was that her parents were given money monthly to take care of her, and a new five-room home was being built on land purchased. Meet Sarah Rector, the 11-Year-Old Who Became The Richest Black Girl in America in 1913. National African American leaders such asBooker T. Washington andW.E.B. Sarah married her first husband, Kenneth Campbell, in 1920. Of course, people never stopped trying to take advantage of Rectors fortune. Worlds Richest Negro Girl inspired media ridicule, fascination, alarm, For Ovechkin in winter, a deadline sell-off makes sense this spring, Commanders cut Carson Wentz and Bobby McCain, clearing cap space, The NFL deserves every bit of its raging Daniel Snyder headache, Searching for Sarah Rector: The Richest Black Girl in America. Privacy Policy Oklahoma City, OK 73154-1309, Portraits of African American businesswoman Sarah Rector | Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons. Her grandparents had been enslaved by Creek Indians and freed after the Civil War. Most of the fancy parties that Sarah had where celebrities such as Duke Ellington would attend werent at the Rector mansion- they were at her home at 2600 Lockridge where she had purchased several homes on the block. 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. Sarah Rector was born in 1902 to a freed black couple, Rose McQueen and Joseph Rector. She was the owner of stocks and bonds, a boarding house, a restaurant in Oklahoma, a bakery, and around 2,000 acres of land. Sarah Rector was buried in Taft Cemetery, Oklahoma. DuBois. reset to default font size Later, she sounded frustrated. Decades after the Rectors made Missouri home, Browns parents warned their children never to inquire about their aunts land in Oklahoma. As such, they and their descendants were listed as freedmen on the Dawes Rolls, by which they were entitled to land allotments under the Treaty of 1866 made by the United States with the Five Civilized Tribes. [4] In 1934, she married restaurant owner William Crawford. Additionally, Joe and Rose now had a daughter who was transformed as a little black girl from Taft to a millionaire headline overnight. But her relatives say those images are fake. Yet the possibility of riches teased the imagination as landholders throughout Oklahoma began striking oil. She had five siblings. Mansa Musa, who may have been the richest person ever. Moreover, Sarahs parents, Joseph and Rose, were also forced to pay a land tax of $30 per year on their daughters property. (Bolden said she found the disputed book cover photo in The American magazine. There were the fancy limos and Cadillacs that ferried young relatives to school and out for barbecue, the White-owned department store that opened its doors just so Sarah Rector could shop; the rolling farmland where Rector would invite Browns mother and the children for family gatherings. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. In fact, both women appeared to have a bit of a lead foot. By the early 20th century, the Creek Freedmen, as they were known, had settled in all-Black towns dotting Indian Territory,which in 1907 became the state of Oklahoma. Many Freedmen eked out a living raising corn, cotton and other common crops. In the late 1950s, Brown was 7 and Rector was in her late 50s when Aunt Sister would have her and her mother, Rectors youngest sister, down to her farm. 1. Who is the poorest person in the world? The judge also approved money for Rector to attend the childrens school at Tuskegee Institute. 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. She never managed to recover all that wealth, though she lived comfortably for the rest of her life until the age of 65. The entire frontage of 12th St. from Euclid to Garfield was bought by Rector money and rented out to people for additional income. Her descendants never knew. Rector now received an income of $300. 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. Rectors spending was legendary, and she routinely drove around town in one of her expensive vehicles. Sara Recor is an American personality. She is Mick Fleetwood's ex-wife. They got married in 1988 in Malibu, California and separated after 4 years in 1992. When Mick Fleetwood married Sara Recor on April 24, 1988 in a lavish ceremony at their Malibu home, it was an affair to remember. Eventually, Sarah married William Crawford, a restaurateur whom she helped to open a second restaurant in Tulsa. Headlines such as Girls $112,000 a Year, Negro Girl Will Pay Largest Tax, and Negro Girl Rich From Oil- Has Income of $475 Daily More Soon sensationalized the story of a small girl and her familys reality. Spain 's Its too dangerous, Brown recalled. Consider Little Sarah Rector, Unkempt, Illiterate, 12-year-old child, Half Negro, Half Creek Indian, read a 1918 article published in the Enid (Oklahoma) Events, managing two errors in the opening lines. 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