They had to petition a court to obtain it or otherwise request a white guardian. 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. 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. increase font size, Honor Black History Month by learning the rags to riches story of Sarah Rector. She married him in 1906 following her first marriage to Moses McWilliams at 14 and her second to a man named John Davis. 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Around 1906, Rector and her two siblings, Rebecca and Joe Jr., were each allotted 160 acres by the federal government, Bolden writes. As a result, hundreds of black children, or Creek Freedmen minors, were each granted 160 acres of land as Indian Territory integrated with Oklahoma Territory to form the State of Oklahoma in 1907. The richest kid in the world is Prince George Alexander Louis who is worth approximately $1 billion dollars as of today. B. Jones produced a gusher that brought in 2500 barrels a day. The land allotments were usually rocky and unsuitable for farming, while the more arable lands were sold to white settlers. With an estimated net worth of $177 billion, he is the richest person in the world. Inside, it says it was Rector at 12, while the 1915 caption, which does not include a photo credit, says she was 10. Busting the Myth Behind Moctezumas Headdress; Did It Really Belong Him? Many Freedmen eked out a living raising corn, cotton and other common crops. Eventually, Sarah married William Crawford, a restaurateur whom she helped to open a second restaurant in Tulsa. Eventually, it netted her upwards of $8,000 per day in todays currency. Before her wealth and fame, When she died at age 65 on July 22, 1967, she only The Rector family actually lived far better than advertised. Its too dangerous, Brown recalled. They have sat back quietly as the rumors about their family recirculate every so often, as that false photo of Sarah is placed at the top of newspaper headlines and social media posts. How Sarah Rector Became The Richest Black Girl In America In The Early 20th Century. When Rector died at age 65 on July 22, 1967, her wealth was diminished, but she still had some working oil wells and 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.. We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. A record 13 feet of snow accumulated in the Serra de Tramuntana mountain range by Tuesday evening - the heaviest snow fall since 1985. Euston published her myth-busting piece about Rector in 2019 on her history blog, The New Santa Fe Trailer. The Smithsonian can count on it, she said: Shell be back in touch. A typical cabin for Creek Freedmen on Muscogee (Creek) Nation land in Oklahoma, similar to where Sarah Rector would have been born. Joe Rector also began receiving payments of about $50 a month about $1,500 in todays dollars. Claim #2: China is a Good Faith Peacemaker . 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. Her memory of Aunt Sister is all about family. Rectors spending was legendary, and she routinely drove around town in one of her expensive vehicles. The Wichita BeaconNewspaper articles about Sarah Rector spread throughout America and were filled with the casual racism of the era. Rector married the first of her two husbands at the age of 20 and bore three sons, all now deceased. For a hundred years, these photos have depicted Sarah Rector, the Richest Black Girl in America. Which Teeth Are Normally Considered Anodontia? Thats not going to happen.. For the first time, Brown heard the word: oil. Details of the life of the person: Sarah Rector was born in 1902 in Oklahoma in Indian Territory. But her relatives say those images are fake. In the 1920s, the Rector family moved to Kansas City where Sarah graduated from Lincoln High School. Rectors notoriety ballooned just as quickly as her wealth. 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. Dubois, founder and editor of the NAACPs Crisis magazine, set out to discern whether the reports were true. Defeated, he sobbed all the way to Dallas on a train where he ended up in Baylor Hospital. Sarah Rector moved to Kansas City in 1917, where she finished high school and stayed for the rest of her life. Sarah wound up marrying a former college football player she met in Kansas City. 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. Certainly, the spending coupled with what Brown believes was little understanding of managing money didnt help. The Rector children attended school in Taft, an all-Black town. They moved to a modern cottage with five bedrooms and owned a car. 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. [4] In 1934, she married restaurant owner William Crawford. After Oklahoma earned statehood in 1907, the new state continued to draw drillers to the area hoping to get lucky. Sarahs parents had selected a white guardian for her Thomas Jefferson Porter. Historically, racism has managed to create a well-functioning system to perpetuate ideas of race superiority and oppression towards those considered inferior to them. They had a lavish life and were part of the elite of the time. Meet Sarah Rector, the 11-Year-Old Who Became The Richest Black Girl in America in 1913. But as Self Made shows, their marriage deteriorated as she grew successful, and they divorced in 1910. Brown walked up to the visitors desk and asked the two women behind the counter if she could speak to a museum official to explain the photos before handing them over. She and Kenneth Campbell had three sons, Kenneth Jr., Leonard, and Clarence. This raised concerns throughout the Black community including the recently formed NAACP, who became interested in assuring her guardian wouldnt rip her off her fortune. 1. Who is the poorest person in the world? All rights reserved 2022 Collective Culture. DuBoisbecame concerned about her welfare. She wasnt sleeping on a dirt floor as had been reported, but the NAACP was more than concerned. In 1902, young Sarah Rector was born into this world, the second eldest of Joe and Rose Rectors nine children. 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. If theres a lesson for others in her legacy, its in the importance of financial literacy, she said. 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. [4] Sarah Rector died in 1967 from a stroke at the age of 65. With all the attention surrounding her wealth, eventually Sarah Rector attracted the attention of another type of man: one who did not see black or white so much as green. The fallacies kept cropping up and, worst of all, that pesky photo. You might like this: Mansa Musa I: The Richest Man In History Was An African King, Not Jeff Bezos. FOLLOW US ONTWITTERANDINSTAGRAM. The family didnt leave Kansas City as some like to report; five generations of Rector descendants still call this place home. By the time she moved to Kansas City in her late teens, Sarah Rectors net worth was estimated to be greater than $1 million over $28 million today spread between oil fields, 2,000 acres of farmland in Oklahoma, and investments in numerous businesses in Kansas City. She would start receiving gifts, requests from loans, and even marriage proposals, some of them by german men, according to the tabloid press. 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. This is Sarah Rector, she said. Jones drilled a well on the property which produced a "gusher" that began to bring in 2,500 barrels (400m3) of oil a day. In 1913, however, her fortunes changed when wildcat oil driller B. Through sheer chance Sarah Rector became one of the richest children in America. Some estimates place Sarah Rectors net worth at the time at $1 million, or about $28 million today. This version has been corrected. She had five siblings. 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. Under the Dawes Allotment Act, Creek lands were divided among the Creeks and former slaves. Soon, the NAACP and W.E.B. 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.. Kim Kardashian is now officially a billionaire: Forbes estimates her net worth is approximately $1 billion, up from $780 million in October 2020. Rumors even claimed that she was a white immigrant girl that was being kept in poverty. Lands given to former slaves were typically not fit for farming. Jones produced a gusher on her land that brought in 2,500 barrels or 105,000 gallons per day. 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