Born on March 3, 1902 Sarah Rector was an African American. She was a member of Muscogee Nation. she is known for being the richest black girl on the world. She was born in the all-black town of Taft, located at Oklahoma. Which was believed to be a part of Indian territory. Her father was a freedman in 1902. She was raised in a humble family and later became the richest black woman on earth.
Sarah Rector And Her Story And How She Became The Richest Black Women?
She and her family were allotted a part of land by the Creek Tribe who has enslaved them. Following the civil war they were allotted land under the Dawes Allotment Act of 1887. Creek Freedman minors were allotted 160 acres of land in an Indian territory that was integrated with the Oklahoma territory which formed the state of Oklahoma in 1907.
The land which was given to Sarah and her family was infertile and rocky and. Which was not suitable for farming. This was based in the middle of Glenn pool oil field it had a worth of $ 556.50 at that time. This was leased to a oil company in February 1911,because the family had very little cash to survive on. He was supposed to pay $3o annually as a property tax for which he required cash.
Later next year an independent oil driller named B.B. Jones produced around 2,500 barrels of oil every day with the help of a “gusher”. Due to which Rector began earning more than $300 per day in 1913. This is equivalent to $ 7,000 – $ 8,000 of todays. it is said that she generated around $11,567 in October 1913. Soon she was the center of attention for most of the newspapers.
The Kanas City Star local newspaper in September published a headline that read – ” Millions to a Negro Girl – Sarah Rector, 10-Year-Old, Has Income of $ 300 A Day From Oil,”. Another newspaper wrote, ” Oil Made Pickaninny Rich – Oklahoma girl with $ 15,000 a month gets many proposals – four white men in Germany wants to marry the Negro child that they might share her fortune.”
With time her income and fame increased she got countless proposals for marriage, loans, money, gift etc. At the age of 18 she was the owner of $1 Million along with stocks and bonds, a boarding house, a bakery and a restaurant in Muskogee. She also bought a grand home at Missouri. In 1922 she married Kenneth Campbell she had three sons with him. They got separated in 1930 and came together in 1934.
Rectors’ wealth deteriorated during the Great Depression. She died at the age of 65 on 22nd July 1967. After which there is no see of her family. No one even knows anything about what happened to her wealth after her death.
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