Sarah Rector (1902-1967) was the richest Black girl in America in the 1910s. At 18 she became one of the first Black millionaires in the US.
Her story began long before she was born:
In the 1830s the US forced the Five Civilized Tribes – the Cherokees, Chickasaws, Choctaws, Seminoles and Creeks – out of their homelands in the South and moved them to the wastelands west of the Mississippi, to what is now known as Oklahoma. It was called the Trail of Tears. Her great grandparents were part of it: they were slaves of the Creeks.
In 1866, the US forced the Creek nation to free its slaves and make them citizens. The slaves became what is known as the Creek freedmen.
In 1887, the US forced the Creek nation to divide its land among its citizens. Till then, Creeks had held their land in common. Anyone born before 1904 got some land. Sarah Rector just made it under the deadline – and got one of the worst pieces: 160 acres (65 hectares) of rocks.
But then on August 29th 1913, oil was discovered! Huge amounts of it. By 1918 her land had 49 working oil wells!
In 1914 the Washington Post reported: “Oil Made Pickanniny Rich”. It said Rector was “ignorant with apparently little mental capacity.”
Letters poured in from charlatans, charities and would-be suitors.
Rumours flew that she got little of the money, that she was living in a shack – or worse: that she had disappeared!
The NAACP and Chicago Defender, a Black newspaper, feared for her. Rightly so: she had a court-approved White guardian. Not all guardians had the best interests of their oil-rich Black or Native charges at heart. Some children did wind up with nothing. Some even wound up dead! W.E.B. Du Bois of the NAACP looked into Rector’s case.
As far as we can tell, her guardian was an honest man who acted in her best interests. So did the county judge. The only bad apple was her guardian’s lawyer, who took $8,500 in kickbacks on land deals made with her money. He was later found out and disbarred from practising law.
About the time she turned 18, some tried to have her declared incompetent so they could control of her fortune. She fought them off in court.
During the 1920s, she and her family lived in the Rector Mansion in Kansas City. She enjoyed her fortune during the height of the Jazz Age, but also bought property. She married a Black businessman, the owner of a car dealership, and had three sons.
We do not if she had any money in the stock market, but right after the Crash of 1929 her husband left her. She went from rich to merely well-off.
In the 1930s the oil wells started to run dry. She sold her oil land and married a restaurant owner, who she lived with for the rest of her days. She lived a private life, never giving interviews.
In 1967 she was laid to rest not far from where she had grown up in a two-room house.
Thanks to Linda for suggesting this post – and for her patience!
– Abagond, 2016.
Source: “Searching for Sarah Rector” (2014) by Tonya Bolden.
See also:
537
More Info: http://www.blackpast.org/aaw/rector-sarah-1902-1967
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Interesting story. Here’s an interview with Tonya Bolden on her book about Sarah Rector. (http://www.slj.com/2014/01/interviews/searching-for-sarah-rector-an-interview-with-tonya-bolden/)
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Interesting post I just recently learned that Native Americans in this instance the Creek nation were slave owners of black Americans.
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So much for standing shoulder to shoulder with our red brothers eh?
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@ gro jo
True. The “Five Civilized Tribes” were among the worst anti-Black bigots.
They are still acting out and not fulfilling their obligations to the free descendants of slaves.
http://historynewsnetwork.org/article/50202
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This is interesting: http://dl9fvu4r30qs1.cloudfront.net/c0/b0/8fb568fc44d1875d7b6fb991b8cd/sarah-rector.JPG
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is that only picture you could find ,her as a little poor girl ,really?
“So much for standing shoulder to shoulder with our red brothers eh”
maybe because there are no red or yellow people only shades of black brown and white.
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@ Mbeti
There are only two pictures that I can be sure are her. This is the only good one.
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I am very surprised that land of oil didn’t get snatched away from her by the government and or private entity given the times. How in the world did she retain or did she fully retain or build an oil business? I skimmed through the vagueness.
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@ TeddyBearSun
She leased the land to an oil company and got the standard 12.5% of revenues.
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@ Afrofem
Your observation remembers me a lengthy discussion I had recently in this blog with jefe (another commentator) about relations between Black Americans and other non-Whites in the USA. The final comments of said discussion were:
Me:
(https://abagond.wordpress.com/2015/12/31/walter-plecker/#comment-306173)
jefe
(https://abagond.wordpress.com/2015/12/31/walter-plecker/#comment-306195)
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Finally, right ….. Thank you Abagond!
I read this story and I found it so very compelling. The fact that white people tried to declare her “white”, so that white men could marry her legally, is what tripped me out the most.
Money…. the truth teller.. it reveals what is already in the soul.
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Sooooooooooooooooooooo interesting! Needs to be a film!
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What I found really sad, was that the Creek Nation, kicked out it’s black Freedman members in 1979
and many of these “black” people are Native by blood because intermarriage was very common between Africans and all the tribes that formed the Muscogee Creeks and Seminoles
tribes like the Cherokees commonly married with whites, so many of today’s “leaders” are all mostly white with a small amounts of Native blood.
and because of this, the Nations that have gotten rid of their black members, no longer use “blood quantum” as their reason — they are claiming that using blood quantum, will mean “extinction” of the tribe because many of them are mixed, majority European blood
most of these Nations who will accept anyone based on the white American “Dawes Roll”, are the larger Nations with the largest Casinos.
the Nations that are being honest, flat out say they just don’t want black members– they want to make their Nations “pure” again
but I don’t see how this will happen when they are willing to accept new members, who are white people with 1/4 to 1/1032 parts Native blood.
The Natives have suffered unimaginably and I don’t have a problem with them wanting to restore the bloodline of their Nations but fair should be fair…
if they want to be racially pure, then they need to kick out members who are mostly white, but we know that will never happen… the leaders are a bunch of hypocrites.
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Here’s a good article that explains what is happening today with the many issues surrounding the “blood quantum” requirements
https://www.hcn.org/issues/41.1/blood-quantum
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comments from the same article that I found interesting because the truth was laid out by Kurux and seems to be a reflection of many “full-blooded” Natives:
commenter Kurux says:
Kurux is not listening… @ E man Jan 15, 2009 09:34 PM
same old story…@ kurux answers Jan 16, 2009 10:39 PM
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@munubantu
Thank you for the links to that discussion.
I was most struck by your original contention:
“Do you consider that said Native Americans and Chinese Americans who had those specific reasons to distance themselves from Blacks, have turned themselves anti-Black racists (by induction, so to speak) or do you believe that they remained non-racist nevertheless.”.
In my life, I’ve observed a range of attitudes and behaviors from Native Americans and Chinese Americans. Some positive and some negative.
I believe White Supremacist ideology has infected and distorted the way people in this country view and relate to one another. I’ve come to realize that anti Black bigotry is woven into the social fabric of the country. Many non-Black groups use it as a unifier with each other and with the European descent population.
It makes the non-Black groups feel safe and protected in the same way children on a playground feel safe when the bully is occupied with his or her target for the week. “At least he (or she) is not picking on me…(relieved sigh)”
When you are the bully’s perpetual target and see other people turn away, cheer the bully on or join the bully in his or her torment of you, the targeted person or group tends to see those other people as bullies too.
Sometimes the bully will vary his or her routine and pick on them. The other “kids” will come to you and say, “isn’t that bully horrible! We should work together against the bully.” However, when the bully returns to his or her normal target (you), those “kids” will slink away in relief.
After a while, the target (you) stops, trusting, caring or believing anything the other “kids” say or do. You know that you are essentially on your own and your struggle against the bully is long-term. If you someday prevail against the bully it will be through your own efforts. No one has your back on this playground.
❅ ❅ ❅ ❅ ❅ ❅ ❅ ❅
To your original contention, I believe many Native Americans and Chinese Americans are anti Black by induction. What may have begun decades ago as a way to keep themselves out of the crosshairs of the White population has become a way of life and a preferred worldview.
I’ve encountered major exceptions to this among politically aware Native Americans and Chinese Americans whose parents were born in this country. They are less likely to drink the White Supremacy koolaid and see everything that happens in this country with clear(er) eyes.
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I guess we need to stop putting on our capes and falling on our swords for anti-black Native Americans.
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@Linda: Rolling my eyes at “Thin Bloods” Wow just wow.”
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Black Women History
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@Abagond Now you need to do a post on Dr. Patricia Era Bath I read about her this past weekend i learned she is the inventor of Laser Eye Surgery. A very accomplished woman.
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@Linda
You really lifted the lid on this worm farm! I had read about White people overrunning the Cherokee Tribal council, but this is head spinning.
The line, “so where is my indian money and house?” really takes the cake!
I second Mary Burrell with the words, “Thin Bloods” Wow just wow.”
In my neck of the woods, the local Native Americans tribes are also fighting furious internal struggles over who stays on the tribal rolls. For them, it is less about blood quantum and more about casino money.
Some of the local old-timers say that when they were all poor and/or not federally recognized no one wanted to be identified as a tribal member. Now that a few tribes have successful casinos and other businesses, they are engaging in all manner of skullduggery to toss people off the rolls, so that the remaining members have larger pieces of the pie.
The love of money makes some people crazy.
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Mary @ I guess we need to stop putting on our capes and falling on our swords for anti-black Native Americans.
Rolling my eyes at “Thin Bloods” Wow just wow.”
Linda says,
“Thinbloods” … I thought it was kind of funny – a new nickname for the word “mixed-raced”, I guess that’s better than “half-caste” or mutt
There are a lot of “thinbloods” running around in the USA , they’re called “Mexicans, Puerto Ricans, Dominicans, Cubans, ie Latinos”
I look at it this way… the Native Americans have the right to determine who they are …many of the tribes do have mixed-black/Native members whose identities are not questioned.
For me, It’s going to come down to, “does the Native tribe support other non-white, non-Native groups in their fight for justice or civil rights?”
The “fullblooded” commenter Kulux was complaining that the mixed-race, mostly white “thinbloods” have taken over the identity of the Native American tribes, and that these people don’t represent what Native heritage is all about.
under the mixed-race white “thinbloods” leadership, the black Freedman lost their Citizenship to the Nation, and Kulux recognized the racism for what it was based on the Cherokee leaders being mostly white.
is it just anti-blackness? or greed mixed with white Supremacy that is affecting the behavior of current day Native tribes.
It seems that the “full-blooded” Natives are not benefiting from the Casino money either and if they are not, why?
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Mary and Afrofem,
Money is the devil and it has been the downfall of many
the way I see it, I’m not mad at the Native Indians for wanting to clean up shop – they’ve experienced genocide and they have the right to try and survive on their ancestral soil.
that being said, I’ll support the First Nation tribes that don’t perpetuate laws that are anti-black… and groups that play fair in their “racial” politics and support other minority groups.
I don’t support the Cherokees because their rules of acceptance seem to be biased in favor of white people with one drop of Native blood…there are a lot of blond Cherokees but it seems like the applications of the black people with Cherokee blood, are getting lost in the mail
I support the Miccosukee Tribe of Florida because they meant it when they said they wanted full-bloods. To be accepted, you have to be 1/2 Miccosukee on your mothers side. They are trying to force the young men to marry within the group to increase the population.
I support the Florida Seminole Nation because they don’t seem to play favorites and are sticking to their truth and require their members to be 1/4 Seminole and be an actual descendant from one of the original members of the Nation- regardless if you are mixed with black or white.
The black descendants of the Seminoles from the 1800s, are citizens of the Seminole Tribe of Florida, live on a reservation in Fort Pierce, Florida. Other descendants live in the various reservations in Florida and some are in leadership positions.
such as Sally Tommie
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“@Abagond Now you need to do a post on Dr. Patricia Era Bath I read about her this past weekend i learned she is the inventor of Laser Eye Surgery. A very accomplished woman.”
Mary, She did not invent Laser eye surgery, but holds four patents for improvements she made to that field.
If you are interested in the accomplishments of black women scientists and engineers, you might want to read these links: (http://www2.technologyreview.com/tr35/profile.aspx?TRID=621)
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L5u7-4yFLbY)
(http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/business/business-news/laylas-work-is-too-sweet-1148230)
( http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2015/05/ahead-of-her-time/)
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne-Marie_Imafidon)
(http://www.cnn.com/2015/03/09/africa/esther-okade-maths-genius/)
(http://www.blackenterprise.com/education/youngest-kid-to-attend-oxford-university/)
Racists always claim that Blacks are genetically, intellectually deficient. An article on Blacks who are intellectually precocious seems in order, along with a look at how said racists explain such anomalies.
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Thanks for your response abagond ,I really didn’t figure it was your negiligence now that I think about it,
I wonder what the real reason is for such a lack of publically available photographs of a supposably rich and famous african american.
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@Kiwi
You are right. They are not united. That lack of unity is one factor (among many) that enables the abuser in your example to continue his or her abuse.
I see that lack of unity is an unfortunate human trait that is universal, cutting across cultures, ages and historical eras. Perhaps when humans learn to end that tendency of allowing others to suffer in their presence because they believe not standing in solidarity saves them, the bullies of the world will become less numerous and effective.
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@ gro jo
I like your links! You dug up some fascinating examples.
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@ Linda
I just noticed the Black dolls in Seminole costumes in the photo of Sallie Tommie. Looks like she’s done a good job of blending her ancestral influences into something healthy.
Thanks for posting that image.
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Afrofem, just doing my bit to combat the lies told about Blacks.
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@Linda: I always love your contributions to the thread post thanks for showing Sally Tommie.
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@ gro jo
… and similar cases seem to crop up again and again. For example, this year (2016):
(http://edition.cnn.com/2016/04/05/us/ivy-league-student-2016-irpt/index.html?iid=ob_article_footer_expansion&iref=obnetwork)
But don’t expect anti-Black racists trying to explain such “anomalies”.
They can’t handle the cognitive dissonance arising from the fact that from an intellectually inferior race geniuses and precocious children can appear,
It can’t be. Maybe is God himself playing around with His creatures!
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@munubantu
Good point!
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@gro jo
I followed a link and found this BBC article on Anne-Marie Imafidon that included a photo. Wikipedia can be incomplete sometimes.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/education/1494503.stm
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@gro jo
This comment by math prodigy, Esther Okade’s, father caught my attention:
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More information on Sarah Rector: (https://medium.com/truly-adventurous/the-richest-black-girl-in-america-ca8aebe054dc)
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