Sarah Rector at eleven was the subject of international attention when The Kansas City Star published in 1913 the headline "Millions to Negro Girl." Rector's life quickly became a swarm of legal and financial maneuvering and misinformation.
Joseph and Rose Rector were the parents of Rector. They were born March 3, 1902 in a cabin with two rooms near Twine, Oklahoma on Muscogee creek Indian allotment. Rose and Joseph both had Creek ancestry and their fathers served in the Civil War. The Dawes Allotment Act, which was passed in 1906 and divided Creek lands among Creeks and former slaves, came into effect when Oklahoma became a state. Rector's parents, Sarah Rector and her brother, Joe, Jr., received land. Rebecca was also granted land by her sister Rebecca. Former slaves often received rocky lands with poorer agricultural quality. The 160-acre allotment by the Rector was worth $556.50.
Rector's father, who was trying to generate sufficient revenue to pay $30 per year in tax bills, leased Rector's allotment to Devonian Oil Company, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in February 1911. However, her fortunes were changed in 1913 when B.B., a wildcat oil driller, took over. Jones was able to produce a "gusher", which brought in 2500 barrels per day. Rector received $300.00 per day in income. After this wealth became public, Rector's guardianship changed from her parents to T.J. Porter (a white man who was personally known to the Rectors). Multiple wells proved to be productive and Rector's allotment became part of Oklahoma's Cushing-Drumright Field. Rector was awarded $11,567 in October 1913.
Rector was 12 years old when her identity was made public. She received many requests from Germans for money, loans and marriage proposals. The Chicago Defender published an article in 1914 claiming that Rector's estate had been mismanaged by grafters, her "ignorant" parents. She was uneducated, lived in rags and in a filthy shanty. Booker T. Washington, W.E.B. and other national African American leaders were among them. DuBois was concerned for her welfare. All of these allegations were false. Rector and her siblings moved to Taft (an all-black community near Twine), where they lived in a five-room cottage and owned an automobile. Rector also enrolled at the Children's House in that same year. This is a boarding school for teenage girls at Tuskegee institute in Alabama.
Rector, who was 18 years old on March 3, 1920, left Tuskegee and moved to Kansas City with her family. Rector was now a millionaire, having acquired stocks and bonds, a bakery, a boardinghouse, and a busy bee cafe in Muskogee, Oklahoma.
The Rector Mansion was the home of the Rector family. Rector was only twenty when she began legal wrangling and mismanagement. Rector was married to Kenneth Campbell in that year. They had three children, Kenneth Jr., Leonard and Clarence. Her extravagant spending on luxuries was a topic of much public attention. In 1930, her marriage to Campbell was ended. She married William Crawford in 1934.
Rector, 65, died July 22, 1967. Her wealth had declined, but her real estate and oil well holdings were still in operation. Sarah Rector was laid to rest in Taft Cemetery, Oklahoma.
SUBJECTS
History of African Americans
TERMS
20th Century (1900-1999), Gender-Women, United States of Oklahoma, United States of Pennsylvania, United States of Alabama, Europe-Germany, United States of Missouri/via Blackpast.org
THE AFRICAN FOUNDATIONAL HISTORY 1050 Pages - THE LAST SINGLE-VOLUME BOOK
United States Birth, Development and Decline. Regression before the leap.
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