In the early 1900s, a time when Black kids in the American South were more likely to inherit oppression than opportunity, the story of one little girl stunned the nation. Sarah Rector, born in 1902 in Indian Territory (now Oklahoma), went from the daughter of freedmen to one of the wealthiest individuals in the country, at just 11 years old.
Sarah was the daughter of Rose and Joseph Rector, African American members of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation. Her parents were descendants of Black Americans who had been enslaved by Muscogee slaveholders and were later classified as freedmen after emancipation. Following the Civil War, and under the Dawes Allotment Act of 1887, Sarah, like many other Black children known as “Creek Freedmen minors”, was granted 160 acres of land through a federal land allotment program.
Her family lived in the all-Black town of Taft, and the land Sarah was allotted initially appeared to be worthless, rocky, infertile, and nearly barren. This was no accident. During the land allotment process, the fertile and farmable lands were typically reserved for white settlers, while Black freedmen and their children were often assigned plots that were believed to have little to no value. On top of that, the family was burdened with an annual $30 property tax, a cost they could barely afford. Desperate to relieve the financial strain, Sarah’s father petitioned the Muscogee County courts for permission to sell the land, but the request was denied, leaving the family stuck with land no one seemed to want.
To help pay the land taxes and provide for his family, Joseph Rector agreed to lease the land to the Standard Oil Company.
Then, in 1913, everything changed. Oil was discovered on Sarah’s allotment, which was located in the Glenpool. A well drilled by B.B. Jones struck a “gusher” that produced 2,500 barrels of oil per day. Practically overnight, Sarah went from struggling to survive to earning between $300 and $475 a day, the modern equivalent of more than $12,000 daily.
Sarah’s sudden fortune triggered a wave of jealousy and unease among white Americans. Newspaper headlines called her “the richest Negro girl in the world,” while some white citizens and politicians demanded that she be assigned a white guardian, assuming, of course, that Black parents couldn’t manage such wealth responsibly. Eventually, her guardianship was taken from her family and handed over to a white man named T.J. Porter. Rumors of financial exploitation quickly followed, though they were later dismissed.
Sarah’s fortune challenged the foundations of Jim Crow society, so Oklahoma officials quietly reclassified her as white in select legal documents. This was done not out of recognition or progress, but so she could legally travel in first-class accommodations, access privileges reserved for whites, and avoid barriers that would normally block a Black girl from enjoying her own wealth.
Sarah lived in a well-furnished home near Muskogee, attended school, and eventually studied at Tuskegee Institute, where Booker T. Washington took personal interest in her well-being. Despite being a child, she was bombarded with requests for money, business proposals, and even marriage offers from adult men across the country.
The NAACP, alarmed by her situation, intervened. Leaders like W.E.B. Du Bois demanded transparency over how her wealth was being managed and sought to protect her from exploitation.
In 1922, Sarah married Kenneth Campbell, a successful businessman and one of the first Black Americans to own a car dealership. They had three sons and lived a life of glamour and prominence in Kansas City, entertaining celebrity guests like, Joe Louis, and Jack Johnson in their Rector Mansion.
The couple divorced in 1930, and Sarah remarried in 1934. Although she lost a large portion of her fortune during the Great Depression, she continued to hold some oil wells, real estate, and business interests.
Later in life, Sarah Rector, now Sarah Rector Campbell Crawford, moved to a more rural setting, quietly living away from the public eye. On July 22, 1967, she suffered a stroke and was rushed to the General Hospital, where she died at the age of 63.
Her wake was held at the Kerford Funeral Home, formerly her own mansion. Then, in a final return to her roots, her family brought her body back to Oklahoma, where she was buried in Taft’s Black Jack Cemetery, beside the paternal guardians who had helped raise her.
Sources:
https://www.ranker.com/list/life-of-sarah-rector/genevieve-carlton
https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2022/09/03/sarah-rector-richest-black-girl/
https://african-nativeamerican.blogspot.com/2010/04/remembering-sarah-rector-creek.html
