In November 1921, Fred Rector, Sarahs uncle, alleged that Rector was dissipating her fortune and asked that G.C. Parker, a white man of Muskogee, be appointed as guardian. In March 1922, another application was filed against her that sought a guardian to oversee her estate. By this point, Sarah was the second oldest of six children, her parents welcoming Alfred, Lillie and little Rosie by 1913. Freedmen like Sarahs relatives born into slavery were eligible for land allotments according to a treaty reached in 1866. [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. When Sarahs popularity grew, her parents were forced to give up their guardianship status to a white man named T.J. Porter. But instead of hearing that Porter was taking advantage of Sarah in the manner described, Du Bois was reassured. Whether youre a lifelong resident of D.C. or you just moved here, weve got you covered. The newspaper published an article claiming that her estate was being mismanaged by her family and that she was uneducated, and had a poor quality of life. Shes known as the first Black female millionaire to live in Kansas City, Missouri. In researching Sarah Rector, she decided to go directly to Brown and her three sisters who are still right there in Kansas City. According to a report from BlackPast.org: In 1914The Chicago Defenderpublished an article claiming that her estate was being mismanaged by grafters and her ignorant parents, and that she was uneducated, dressed in rags, and lived in an unsanitary shanty. Rector was already a millionaire by the time she had turned 18 in 1920. 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. Library of CongressW.E.B. They divorced in 1930 and Rector remarried in 1934. She was the owner of stocks and bonds, a boarding house, a restaurant in Oklahoma, a bakery, and around 2,000 acres of land. She had five siblings. No one took the time to teach her how to spend the money or how to invest it, Brown said. Her story spread throughout the national news, with both Black and white papers dubbing her The Richest Negro Girl in the World.. Privacy Policy Rector died at the age of 65 on July 22, 1967. She owned stocks, bonds, a boarding house, businesses, and a 2,000-acre (810ha) piece of prime river bottomland. After finding out there was oil in the parcel, and trying to make some money out of it, Joseph decided to lease the parcel to an oil company in 1911. 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. At $3.50 an acre, she wasnt shouting Im rich! just yet. When Sarah reached legal age, a judge found her mentally sound and capable of managing her own affairs. . Historically, racism has 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. W.E.B. The family lived simply but not in poverty; however, the $30 annual property tax on Sarah's parcel was such a burden that her father petitioned the Muskogee County Court to sell the 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. Each member of the Rector family received a 160-acre allotment of rocky, unproductive land deemed unsuitable for farming. Had the U.S. government known at the time what flowed beneath Sarahs rocky acres, they likely would have reconsidered. When she turned 18 on March 3, 1920, Rector left Tuskegee and her family relocated to Kansas City, Missouri. Economic Equity & Racial Justice Townhall Series, Elevate Black Podcast sponsored by Fifth Third Bank, 100 Founders of Change by American Express, Chasing Success Podcast by JP Morgan Chase, Black Business Month Sponsored by Nationwide, 2022 Registry Of Corporate Directors Listing, 2021 BE Registry Of Corporate Directors Listing. The most vexing bit to Brown: the black-and-white photo of the somber-faced girl with pigtails wearing a dark plaid dress. 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. Each freedman was given 160 acres of land. Jones drilled a well on the property which produced a "gusher" that began to bring in 2,500 barrels (400m3) of oil a day. Browns mother insisted, too. WebBorn as the daughter of freedmen in 1902, Sarah Rector rose from humble beginnings to reportedly become the wealthiest black girl in America. 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. Soon after arriving to Kansas City, the Rectors bought a sprawling stone foursquare at the corner of 2000 East 12th Street. With an estimated net worth of $177 billion, he is the richest person in the world. By 1911, leasing land to oil-diggers presented a new opportunity for the Rectors land. This version has been corrected. We would like to see the house restored and have it become a historic landmark and museum, the Rector descendants told me around the kitchen table covered with photos, records and family papers. The fallacies kept cropping up and, worst of all, that pesky photo. Rector became instantly wealthy. Dubois, founder and editor of the NAACPs Crisis magazine, set out to discern whether the reports were true. But Rectors first guardian, a rancher named T.J. Porter, invested her earnings judiciously in rich river bottom land, business properties and lucrative mortgages. Her sudden wealth became the object of racist news coverage. 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. PO Box 54309 Since then, shes been contacting historical societies to urge them not to use the image. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. Back then, it was known as Twine, Indian Territory, since Oklahoma had not yet been incorporated as a state. 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. INFORMATION It was an article in a respectable black newspaper called the Chicago Defender that turned their worlds upside down. [7] This was a mandatory step in the process of integration of the Indian Territory with Oklahoma Territory to form what is now the State of Oklahoma.[8][9]. The sensationalism that dogged Rector in her youth has continued long after her death. Brown, then a grade-schooler living in a two-bedroom house with three siblings, her parents and her grandmother, marveled but didnt dare ask questions. WebSarah Kay Ferguson Avila went to be with her Lord and Saviour on September 27, 2014 in Oklahoma City. While her fortune had diminished over time, at her death, she still held considerable investments. This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged. A trillionaire is an individual with a net worth equal to at least one trillion in U.S. dollars or a similarly valued currency, such as the euro or the British pound. 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. Who is the richest black actor in the world? Women of Power TECH, PODCASTS She also owned stocks and bonds, a boarding house, a bakery and restaurant in Muskogee, Oklahoma, and 2,000 acres of land. They moved to a modern cottage with five bedrooms and owned a car. When his people were forced west of the Mississippi by the U.S. government, the chief took his enslaved workers with him. W.E.B. It was considered inferior infertile soil, not suitable for farming, with better land being reserved for white settlers and members of the tribe. 1901), Sarah (b. Many Freedmen eked out a living raising corn, cotton and other common crops. Entrepreneurs Summit What changed Sarah and the Rectors life overall was a stroke of luck if you may say. A photo of Sarah Rector with one of her cars has been removed from the story due to questions about the cars make and model. Sarahs cut per day was $300. The Roaring 20s had dawned and the spending began in earnest: furs, luxury cars, lavish parties and the shopping sprees at the Emery, Bird, Thayer department store. This was an irrevocable law so that Oklahoma could be integrated into US territory. As a result, Rectors guardianship switched from her parents to a white man named T.J. Porter. 5 Factors Why You Should Be Selecting the Right Web Hosting Company. Despite the wealth and businesses Sarah and her family ran, the Great Depression would take a toll on her fortune making her lose almost all her wealth. 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. By the time Sarah was 18, she was worth well over one million dollars. But, as we mentioned at the beginning, the hypocrisy of racism would soon make its appearance. 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. A horse and buggy were purchased to spare the children the two-mile trek to school. Her last stop in Kansas City was none other than the old Rector Mansion, now a funeral home. 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. One of his slaves was Mollie, Sarah Rectors great-grandmother. Who was the real Sarah Rector, The Richest Black Girl in America?, Missing in Action: Local artists painting of Patrick Mahomes stolen, UPDATE: Shakir is safe. This raised all sorts of concerns among the Black community who believed this man would rip Sarah off her fortune. 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]. Mama Rose died in 1957, and Sarah passed in 1967 from a cerebral hemorrhage. [1] The wedding was a very private affair with only her mother and Campbell's paternal grandmother present. Who is the first richest woman in the world? When Sarah was 18 years old, she had a fortune estimated at $1 million, the equivalent of $11 million today. 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