PO Box 54309 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. 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. (Bolden said she found the disputed book cover photo in The American magazine. Her parents, Joseph Rector and his wife, Rose McQueen (both born 1881) were African descendants of the Creek Nation Creek Indians before the Civil war. 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. Upon graduation, she attended the Institute. As its revealed in the last episode of Self Made, yes, Madam C.J. She married him in 1906 following her first marriage to Moses McWilliams at 14 and her second to a man named John Davis. Naturally, an 11-year-old black girl making that amount of money a day became news all over the country, and tabloids would write all sorts of things about her. This raised all sorts of concerns among the Black community who believed this man would rip Sarah off her fortune. When Sarah Rector died at age 65, she had used up a good portion of her fortune but she still had a few oil-producing wells and some real estate. Sarah Rectors case spotlighted the practice of transferring guardianship of black childrens wealth to whites. Joe Rector also began receiving payments of about $50 a month about $1,500 in todays dollars. It included five tribes who were relocated by the U.S. government using a combination of bribery and force from their former homelands in the Southeast to what would become Oklahoma so that new white settlers could take over their rich land. The courts again sided with Rector, ruling that since she had managed her property with such astuteness that she needs no guardian.. Im not going to leave them so they can sit on someones desk, Brown said. Connecting oklahoma's electric cooperative communities. When she died at age 65 on July 22, 1967, she only 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. Ironically, this government prohibition proved to be the familys greatest blessing. In 1913, an oil driller discovered a gusher that produced a reported 2,500 barrels per day. In 1913, 11-year-old Sarah Rector became the richest Black girl in America, almost by accident. Du Bois is said to have written directly to the county judge who oversaw Rectors affairs for more information. 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. Alice Walton, the daughter of the Walmart founder, was ranked second with 61.8 billion U.S. dollars in net worth. According to the Amsterdam News, Rector and her family sought to end Porters guardianship and were ultimately successful. And Kardashian has earned at least $10 million annually since 2012 from endorsement deals, mobile apps and her show, Keeping Up with the Kardashians. 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. 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. National ArchivesA typical cabin for Creek Freedmen on Muscogee (Creek) Nation land in Oklahoma, similar to where Sarah Rector would have been born. 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. Her issues with disputed guardianship continued in Kansas City, but most stemmed from greed and not legitimate concern for her welfare. In 1902, young Sarah Rector was born into this world, the second eldest of Joe and Rose Rectors nine children. But it definitely isnt her.. 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. In November 1913, not aware of the monthly allotments Sarah was getting, the newspaper headline read Richest Colored Girl Forced to Live in Shack. Claims were made that Sarah was sleeping on the floor and her guardian was only giving her a few dollars a month. But things didnt work out for them In 1930, they divorced, and four years later Sarah got married for a second time. 1906). Sandringham House and Balmoral Castle are privately owned by the Queen. This was an irrevocable law so that Oklahoma could be integrated into US territory. She never managed to recover all that wealth, though she lived comfortably for the rest of her life until the age of 65. Will King Charles IIIs Reign See the End of the Commonwealth? Any oil produced would give a 12.5 percent royalty to the land owner. Sarah Rector was buried in Taft Cemetery, Oklahoma. No one, including historians, is clear on what happened to Aunt Sisters money. Jones produced a gusher on the land. Sarah Rector was 11 when oil was discovered on her land in Oklahoma in 1913. Her grandparents had been enslaved by Creek Indians and freed after the Civil War. and last updated 8:53 PM, Mar 02, 2021 KANSAS CITY, Mo. The ladies loved finer clothing, but being African American, they were not allowed to shop alongside white patrons in stores on Petticoat Lane. Whats the Future of the Manufacturing Industry? But she had also intentionally chosen to omit Pope-Turnbos role.. According to historian Tonya Bolden in her biography Searching for Sarah Rector: The Richest Black Girl in America, Jefferson had been the familys benefactor for years and long before there was any probability of them every having money.. How the author stumbled on Sarahs story is included in this spellbinding presentation of an early America and real-life mysteries. She divorced Campbell and married restaurant owner 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. But instead of hearing that Porter was taking advantage of Sarah in the manner described, Du Bois was reassured. 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. An earlier version of this article incorrectly spelled the name of Muskogee County. Rectors life story did not need embellishment. [10] John Rector's father, Benjamin McQueen, was enslaved by Reilly Grayson, who was a Creek Indian. Joe ended up quite satisfied when he was able to lease Sarahs land to an oil company where he received a bonus of $160. 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. Rector and her siblings went to school in Taft, an all-black town closer than Twine, they lived in a modern five-room cottage, and they owned an automobile. Then, in the fall of 1913, an independent driller struck liquid gold on Sarah Rectors land, bringing the family royalties of $300 per day, about $8,000 today. I have some important news to share with all of America: those images are not Sarah Rector. By the time she turned 18, Rector was worth an estimated $1 million, or about $11 million today. Rector was already a millionaire by the time she had turned 18. The Creeks called them Estelvstethe Black People. She owned stocks, bonds, a boarding house, businesses, and a 2,000-acre piece of prime river bottomland. If you continue to use this site we will assume that you are happy with it. Several speeding tickets were issued to both of themespecially to Sarah. A Fairfax County (Virginia) School Board member last week said World War II's Battle of Iwo Jima "set the record" for what "human evil is capable of" and it was far from the only controversial statement Abrar Omeish has uttered. Meet Sarah Rector, the 11-Year-Old Who Became The Richest Black Girl in America in 1913. She had been born into poverty as a member of the Muscogee Nation in Oklahoma in 1902, and received, as did every member of the Nation, a plot of undesirable land in the territory when it was made a state in 1907. 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. Under the laws of the time, black parents were not automatically given guardianship of their own children. Please be sure to open and click your first newsletter so we can confirm your subscription. Later, she sounded frustrated. By the time she turned 18, Rector was worth an estimated $1 million, or about $11 million today. 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 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. She also owned stocks and bonds, a boarding house, a bakery and restaurant in Muskogee, Oklahoma, and 2,000 acres of land. The parcel allotted to Sarah Rector was located in Glenpool, 60 miles (97km) from where she and her family lived. 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. She eventually left Tuskegee with her family and moved toKansas City, Missouri, where she bought agrand home that still stands today. She was declared as a white person so she could fit in the socialit circles of her time. 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.. Rector was about 16 then and not half-Creek. In order for Jim to show Joe where the alleged $40 million oil gusher was in Mexico, he had to be free. [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. 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. WebBorn as the daughter of freedmen in 1902, Sarah Rector rose from humble beginnings to reportedly become the wealthiest black girl in America. [1][15], Rector lived a comfortable life and, with a taste for fine clothing and cars, enjoyed her 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. Women of Power Summit Thats not going to happen.. In 1913, however, her fortunes changed when wildcat oil driller B. Rectors cut was $300 each day, a considerable amount at the time. 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. In a role not unfamiliar to descendants of historical figures, Brown said she finds herself constantly playing whack-a-mole as journalists and academics replicate earlier errors. Who was the first richest black woman in America? She threw lavish parties and entertained celebrities such as Count Basie and Duke Ellington. Sarah was born on October 23, 1974 in Woodward, Oklahoma to John L. and Carol (Machacek) Ferguson. Spain 's He had lived in the home for over 17 years. 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. 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. 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.. At the time, Sarah Rectors net worth was estimated to be comprised of about $750,000 in oil revenue, and she was bringing in over $100,000 per year. 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.. Her memory of Aunt Sister is all about family. Played by Blair Underwood opposite Octavia Spencers Walker, C.J. 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