Along with her businesses, she owned 2,000 acres of river bottomland and was worth over $1 million. 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. When Rector died at age 65 on July 22, 1967, her wealth was diminished, but she still had some working oil wells and One of the greatest examples of this hypocrisy and nonsensical laws is the case of Sarah Rector, a young black girl deemed by the press and society as the Richest Colored Girl in the World, " and who was eventually declared white so she could be a member of society. Sarahs acreage, divided into two parcels near the bend in the Cimarron River, did not appear to be an exception. Lands given to former slaves were typically not fit for farming. Rector's allotment subsequently became part of the Cushing-Drumright Oil Field. She drove a green and black Cadillac, later adding a silver-plated Lincoln and a chauffer-driven Rolls Royce. 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 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. How Sarah Rector Became The 'Richest Black Girl In America' When she began attending Tuskegee Institutes Childrens School at the suggestion of Booker T. Washington, a guard managed to prevent her abduction by a group intending to hold her for ransom. It is important to hear from those directly concerned, rather than base research solely on archival material like newspaper clippings. Soon after arriving to Kansas City, the Rectors bought a sprawling stone foursquare at the corner of 2000 East 12th Street. In fact, both women appeared to have a bit of a lead foot. Washington also intervened to help the Rector family. She owned stocks, bonds, a boarding house, businesses, and a 2,000-acre (810ha) piece of prime river bottomland. Some of these statements are partially true, but the true story of Sarah should be told through her family. Great greed followed great wealth, however, and the hunger for oil money sometimes led to murder, a phenomenon that played out notoriously in the decades-long killings of the Osage Indians for their oil rights beginning just a few years before Sarah struck it rich. No one took the time to teach her how to spend the money or how to invest it, Brown said. In 1913, an independent driller, B.B. She never managed to recover all that wealth, though she lived comfortably for the rest of her life until the age of 65. The richest kid in the world is Prince George Alexander Louis who is worth approximately $1 billion dollars as of today. Each freedman was given 160 acres of land. . Entrepreneurs Summit More intriguing, what happened to this young African American woman who was part of the Creek [Indian] freedmen? Nicks says her romantic escapades have been so amazing that she would be okay with never dating again. Unfortunately, Rector lost a majority of her wealth during The Great Depression and moved out of her She also owned stocks and bonds, a boarding house, a bakery and restaurant in Muskogee, Oklahoma, and 2,000 acres of land. Decades after the Rectors made Missouri home, Browns parents warned their children never to inquire about their aunts land in Oklahoma. Following the Civil War, Rectors parents, who were formerly enslaved by Creek Tribe members, were entitled to land allotments under the Dawes Allotment Act of 1887. They had to petition a court to obtain it or otherwise request a white guardian. Very interesting thank you. In fact, Sarahs parents had selected Porter as guardian of their daughters wealth, and he received only 2% of her total income. Busting the Myth Behind Moctezumas Headdress; Did It Really Belong Him? Sarahs experiences encouraged officials in Oklahoma to provide badly needed protection for children caught up in the oil boom, especially Black and indigenous children who became targets of unscrupulous men attempting to snatch their money. Sarah Rector died in 1967 from a stroke at the age of 65. 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. Mama Rose died in 1957, and Sarah passed in 1967 from a cerebral hemorrhage. Her mother, Rosa Rector, would simply say, Aunt Sister can afford to do that, Brown said. Walker, achieving that distinction as a teenager. National ArchivesA typical cabin for Creek Freedmen on Muscogee (Creek) Nation land in Oklahoma, similar to where Sarah Rector would have been born. By Sydney Trent 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. The land allotments were usually rocky and unsuitable for farming, while the more arable lands were sold to white settlers. The Wichita BeaconNewspaper articles about Sarah Rector spread throughout America and were filled with the casual racism of the era. Thats the way she would put it. Rectors spending was legendary, and she routinely drove around town in one of her expensive vehicles. The Rector Mansion in Kansas City still stands though, and her descendants hope to buy it back from the city and turn it into a museum about her life. [13] In October of that year, she was enrolled in the Children's School, a boarding school at the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama, headed by Washington. A record 13 feet of snow accumulated in the Serra de Tramuntana mountain range by Tuesday evening - the heaviest snow fall since 1985. Jones struck a gusher on Sarahs land that produced 2,500 barrels a day, which gave Sarah a whopping daily income of $300. Diane Euston, a Kansas City history writer and preservationist, had seen it, too. Although the image can be traced to the 1915 issue of the The American magazine, a now-defunct White-owned publication, Brown insists it is not her aunt. Then check out the 10 richest people of all time. Library of CongressW.E.B. Connecting Oklahoma's Electric Cooperative Communities, Mailing Address: Sarah Rector, the daughter of Creek Indian freedmen, rose from humble beginnings in a wind-swept two-room cabin near the tiny town of Twine in Indian Territory to become the richest Black girl in America when she was 11 years old. Deborah Brown grew up calling her Aunt Sister, and she remembers her storied life through the haze of childhood in segregated Kansas City, Mo., more than a half a century ago. Besides the white guardianship, given the amount of her wealth, in 1913 the Oklahoma Legislature decided to declare her as a white person in an attempt to keep her business in the territory. Sarahs cut per day was $300. Rector became instantly wealthy. Sarah was born on October 23, 1974 in Woodward, Oklahoma to John L. and Carol (Machacek) Ferguson. That same year, Sarah was making over $300 a day, which has been estimated to be around $8,000 today. It has appeared on the cover of an award-winning book about Rector, on the Facebook page of the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, and elsewhere. and last updated 8:53 PM, Mar 02, 2021 KANSAS CITY, Mo. LIKE US ONFACEBOOK. 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. 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. By the time she was 11, her portion of the familys land was earning more than 300,000 a year, drawing both suitors and global attention despite her age. One newspaper dubbed her the richest negro in the world.. It became known as the Rector Mansion, Tonya Bolden said. [4] Sarah Rector died in 1967 from a stroke at the age of 65. But Rectors first guardian, a rancher named T.J. Porter, invested her earnings judiciously in rich river bottom land, business properties and lucrative mortgages. When her fortune topped $10,000 a month at the age of 13, a probate judge appointed a white guardian for her although both her parents were still alive. Shes Not Madeleine: Scotland Yard Refutes Julias Allegations of Being Madeleine McCann. 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. Although Joseph Rector had selected Porter as Sarahs guardian before oil was discovered on her land, newspapers soon picked up the story that the Rector family was still living in relative poverty while Sarahs white guardian was making a killing off her oil. [10] John Rector's father, Benjamin McQueen, was enslaved by Reilly Grayson, who was a Creek Indian. Some estimates place Sarah Rectors net worth at the time at $1 million, or about $28 million today. All rights reserved 2022 Collective Culture. Women of Power TECH, PODCASTS Aboriginal American member of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation, "Remembering Sarah Rector, Creek Freedwoman", "The African-Native American Genealogy Blog", "Sarah Rector The Richest Black Girl In The World", "The Unlikely Baroness | This Land Press - Made by You and Me", "United Inner City Services Hope Murals Bring Attention to the Rector House", "Black History Month From the Archives Sarah Rector: The Richest Colored Girl in the World", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Sarah_Rector&oldid=1142217379, American businesspeople in the oil industry, Short description is different from Wikidata, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 1 March 2023, at 04:11. Home | About | Contact | Copyright | Report Content | Privacy | Cookie Policy | Terms & Conditions | Sitemap. If Sarah had rubbed Aladdins lamp and commanded the Jinn to provide every luxury her most vivid imaginings could picture, the Jinns efforts would yet be far removed from the actuality.. Rectors life story did not need embellishment. The family perspective is essential and its wonderful that they are determined to set the story straight. By the time she turned 18, Rector was worth an estimated $1 million, or about $11 million today. [11], As news of Rector's wealth spread worldwide, she began to receive requests for loans, money gifts, and marriage proposals, despite the fact that she was only 12 years old. FOLLOW US ONTWITTERANDINSTAGRAM. The NAACP was able to convince the Rectors to send Sarah to the Tuskegee Institutes elementary school called the Childrens Home. Brown assumes so. 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. By 1922, Sarah was able to make her own decisions, and she married her first husband that year. In 1913, however, her fortunes changed when wildcat oil driller B. Like most other dealings the government had with Indigenous Americans, it was not entirely honest. How do I change the view of my contacts in outlook? Rector's parents, Rose McQueen and her husband, Joseph Rector (both born 1881),[4] were the Black grandchildren of Creek Indians before the Civil War,[5] and were descendants of the Muscogee Creek Nation after the Treaty of 1866. They divorced in 1930 and Rector remarried in 1934. Selena Hill is the Digital Editor at Black Enterprise and an award-winning multi-media journalist. Editors Note: This story was originally published on February 11, 2019, EVENTS [3] Rector and her family relocated to Kansas City, Missouri, and settled in a large stone American foursquare home located at 2000 East 12th Street that still stands today. about $11 million Any oil produced would give a 12.5 percent royalty to the land owner. Both of Sarahs grandfathers had fought with the Union Army during the Civil War, and when Indian Territory became Oklahoma in 1907 the Dawes Allotment Act divided Creek lands among tribal members and their former slaves. This home-place was a stately stone house. But will go back to this in a moment. Nicks herself had an affair with Mick Fleetwood in early 1978 while he was married to Jenny Boyd. Sarah Rector, also known as Sarah Rector Campbell and Sarah Campbell Crawford, (March 3, 1902 July 22, 1967)[1] was a Creek Freedwoman and oil magnate once known as the "Richest Colored Girl in the World".[2][3]. Cover photo: These photos are commonly used when telling the story of Sarah Rector, however her descendants claim these are not her. Rector married the first of her two husbands at the age of 20 and bore three sons, all now deceased. The family lived in what was called the Rector Mansion in Kansas City, but wrangling over Rectors earnings and financial mismanagement continued until she was 20. She was the owner of stocks and bonds, a boarding house, a restaurant in Oklahoma, a bakery, and around 2,000 acres of land. The land became part of the famous Cushing-Drumright Oil Field and it propelled Rector into both spotlight and scandal. Manuel and Joe arrived in Mexico on Joes dollar but all the money evaporated while trying to target this land in Tampico. By the time Sarah was 18, she was worth well over one million dollars. Du Bois is said to have written directly to the county judge who oversaw Rectors affairs for more information. 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