BE 100s Her descendants never knew. Black Men XCEL Sarah Rector wasnt living near Taft, or in Tuskegee, Bolden concluded. Played by Blair Underwood opposite Octavia Spencers Walker, C.J. As a result, Rectors guardianship switched from her parents to a white man named T.J. Porter. Jeff Bezos is the founder of both Amazon, the worlds largest retailer, and Blue Origin. How Sarah Rector Became The 'Richest Black Girl In America' She also owned stocks and bonds, a boarding house, a bakery and restaurant inMuskogee, Oklahoma, and 2,000 acres of land. 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. Many of the Black people who accompanied the tribes lived in slavery until 1866, after treaties with the federal government abolished the ownership of people on tribal lands. Dubois, founder and editor of the NAACPs Crisis magazine, set out to discern whether the reports were true. Spain 's 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. 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. Jones produced a gusher on her land that brought in 2,500 barrels or 105,000 gallons per day. 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. She had five siblings. 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. Yet depending on the publication, the family was either senselessly rich or persistently poor. 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. The Smithsonian can count on it, she said: Shell be back in touch. He also concluded that the men that wrote her were fine looking chaps.. She died in 1967 at age 65 and was buried in Taft. 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. W.E.B. Still, after being declared white, Sarah Rector was fully accepted into the elite circles of Oklahoma. But, as we mentioned at the beginning, the hypocrisy of racism would soon make its appearance. Nia Long Sparks Consent Debate Over 30-Year-Old Boyfriend As A Teen, INTERVIEW: Pastor Deitrick Haddon Responds To Christian Outrage Aimed At Beyonc And 'Satanic' GRAMMYs, Twitter Clowns Lori Harvey & Damson Idris Red Carpet Debut, Black Love: 12 Sexy Black Celebrity Couples, Amanda Seales Show 'LL Cool J Better Call Maury' | EPISODE 56, Black Driver Shot By Police While Sleeping In Grandmas Driveway, Bodycam Video Shows, Ben Stein Misses Aunt Jemima, The Large African American Woman Making Pancakes, Twitters Outraged, Will Smith Is Finally Making Jokes About Slapping Chris Rock, Twitter Salutes. The chief of the tribe, an Alabama-born man named Opothle Yohola (1778-1863), was one of these leaders who owned slaves. Kerford Funeral Home. Historically, racism has W.E.B. Du Bois, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), and its magazine, the Crisis, became involved in Sarah Rectors case when Du Bois received a memo from James C. Waters, Jr., an attorney and agent affiliated with the NAACP, on June 18, 1914. Rectors spending was legendary, and she routinely drove around town in one of her expensive vehicles. Ive heard so much of Ms. Rector during my life and am so grateful to the family for sharing the truth! Any oil produced would give a 12.5 percent royalty to the land owner. While her fortune had diminished over time, at her death, she still held considerable investments. Oil Made Pickaninny Rich blared a headline in The Washington Post, which described Rector in 1914 as an orphan, crude, Black and uneducated, yet worth more than $4,000,000.. Sarah's father Joseph was the son of John Rector, a Creek Freedman. (Museum officials did not respond to a request for comment for this story.). Sarah was born on October 23, 1974 in Woodward, Oklahoma to John L. and Carol (Machacek) Ferguson. 1902) and Joe, Jr. (b. At that time, it was required by law that all Native Americans and Black citizens from Indian Territories with relatively significant property and wealth had to be assigned a well-respected white guardian to be able to keep making business. Entrepreneurs Summit In 1913, 11-year-old Sarah Rector became the richest Black girl in America, almost by accident. Newspaper articles about Sarah Rector spread throughout America and were filled with the casual racism of the era. Rector was already a millionaire by the time she had turned 18 in 1920. 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. Du Bois, who got involved with Sarah Rectors case when he heard rumors her money was being mismanaged by a white man. Her sudden wealth became the object of racist news coverage. Shes Not Madeleine: Scotland Yard Refutes Julias Allegations of Being Madeleine McCann. 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. 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. In 1913, an independent driller, B.B. Her great-grandparents had been slaves of the Creeks in their ancestral homelands in Alabama and Georgia, but after the Civil War, Creek slaves were freed. 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. By 1920, the Rector family was living in a beautiful brick mansion at 2000 E. 12th St. that was purchased by Mama Rose for $20,000 from Henry S. Ferguson, president of the U.S. Water & Steam Supply Company. Enter your email address to follow this site and receive news sent to your email. By the time she turned 18, Rector was worth an estimated $1 million, or about $11 million today. Sarahs cut per day was $300. For the first time, Brown heard the word: oil. FOLLOW US ONTWITTERANDINSTAGRAM. By the time she turned 18, Rector was worth an estimated $1 million, or about $11 million today. Sarah is buried in a peaceful parcel of land known as Blackjack Cemetery back home in Oklahoma where she was born. 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. B. Jones produced a gusher that brought in 2500 barrels a day. Rectors lost most of her wealth during The Great Depression. [16], Rector died on July 22, 1967, at the age of 65. 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. The law at the time required full-blooded Indians, black adults, and children who were citizens of Indian Territory with significant property and money, to be assigned "well-respected" white guardians. [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. Upon graduation, she attended the Institute. The White-owned newspapers across the country heralded young Sarah as the worlds richest Negro girl and gushed about her supposed fairy-tale life, all the while suggesting she was unworthy of it. That same year, Rector enrolled in the Childrens House, a boarding school for teenagers atTuskegee InstituteinAlabama. But things didnt work out for them In 1930, they divorced, and four years later Sarah got married for a second time. In 1902, young Sarah Rector was born into this world, the second eldest of Joe and Rose Rectors nine children. If youre 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. She never managed to recover all that wealth, though she lived comfortably for the rest of her life until the age of 65. Sara Allen (born March 23, 1954) is an There is 1 volunteer for this cemetery. Moreover, Sarahs parents, Joseph and Rose, were also forced to pay a land tax of $30 per year on their daughters property. She is interred in Blackjack Cemetery in her childhood hometown of Taft.[17]. No one took the time to teach her how to spend the money or how to invest it, Brown said. Around 1906, Rector and her two siblings, Rebecca and Joe Jr., were each allotted 160 acres by the federal government, Bolden writes. [1] The wedding was a very private affair with only her mother and Campbell's paternal grandmother present. 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. His petition was denied because of certain restrictions placed on the land, so he was required to continue paying the taxes. 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. A horse and buggy were purchased to spare the children the two-mile trek to school. It became known as the Rector Mansion, Bolden told the New York Amsterdam News. Sarah Rector was born in 1902 to a freed black couple, Rose McQueen and Joseph Rector. 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. [14], Soon after moving to Kansas City, when she was 17 or 18, she married local businessman Kenneth Campbell in 1920. Her memory of Aunt Sister is all about family. Later, she sounded frustrated. While Oprahs massive fortune wasnt built on acting, alone, she deserves to make the list. Euston published her myth-busting piece about Rector in 2019 on her history blog, The New Santa Fe Trailer. She can afford it. She never said she was rich.. They said, Whatevers down there, you dont bother with it. Sarah Rector was born in 1902 near the all-black town of Taft, located in the eastern portion of Oklahoma, in what was then Indian Territory. Wanting to have the real scoop on Sarah, the Defender published an article claiming that she was an uneducated girl dressed in rags raised by ignorant parents who had given a white man all rights to her state. Unfortunately, Rector lost a majority of her wealth during The Great Depression and moved out of her After learning about Sarah Rector, read about Mansa Musa, who may have been the richest person ever. High-Paid in Hollywood: 8 of the Richest Black Actors in 2021. Soon after arriving to Kansas City, the Rectors bought a sprawling stone foursquare at the corner of 2000 East 12th Street. Still, Sarahs case was so big that it inspired the creation of the Childrens Department of the NAACP to investigate and protect children from white guardians being ripped off their land and wealth. 5 Advantages Of In-Home Therapy And Rehabilitation, NFL COVID PROTOCOLS: OUTBREAK POSTPONES STEELERS-TITANS. Her marriage to Campbell ended in 1930, and in 1934 she married William Crawford. 1901), Sarah (b. The Creeks called them Estelvstethe Black People. 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. Web5 Advantages Of In-Home Therapy And Rehabilitation Best Tyre Brands for Your Car NFL COVID PROTOCOLS: OUTBREAK POSTPONES STEELERS-TITANS Whats the Ironically, her body was brought to C.K. In October 1914, Rector enrolled at the Childrens House, a boarding school for teens at Tuskegee Institute. What changed Sarah and the Rectors life overall was a stroke of luck if you may say. At that point, she left Tuskegee and, with her entire family, moved to Kansas City, Missouri. Her grandparents had been enslaved by Creek Indians and freed after the Civil War. A typical cabin for Creek Freedmen on Muscogee (Creek) Nation land in Oklahoma, similar to where Sarah Rector would have been born. I was lucky that a line of the Rectors Sarahs nieces- were willing to talk to me and share their stories. 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. 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. One of his slaves was Mollie, Sarah Rectors great-grandmother. The 12-year-old was soon receiving marriage proposals from suitors as far away as Germany. Walker did steal the base formula from Turnbo before adapting it into her own Wonderful Hair Grower. Porter, an individual known to the family. Management By this point, Sarah was the second oldest of six children, her parents welcoming Alfred, Lillie and little Rosie by 1913. Its too dangerous, Brown recalled. Then check out the 10 richest people of all time. At the age of 20, she married Kansas City businessman Kenneth Campbell and the couple hosted such local royalty as Joe Louis, Duke Ellington and Count Basie in their mansion. Her final resting place in the ground was back where the story beginsin Taft, in a peaceful parcel of land known as Blackjack Cemetery. Address to follow this site and receive news sent to your email address to follow this site receive! To the land, so he was required to continue paying the taxes first time, Brown heard the:... Not respond to a freed black couple, Rose McQueen and Joseph Rector of both Amazon, the largest! 23, 1954 ) is an There is 1 volunteer for this Cemetery gusher on her history blog the! Alone, she said: Shell be back in touch make the.! 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