Introduction
This is the extraordinary story of an 11-year-old black girl called Sarah Rector from Oklahoma who became rich when oil was discovered on her land in 1913. An extraordinary experience that changed her life forever. This land allotment which consisted of 160 acres of land, was gifted to eligible Rector members. However, it was sandy and rocky and her father cursed that nothing would grow on it and they had to pay $30 in taxes on the land. In order to pay the lease, he signed a lease with an oil company. Shortly afterwards, the oil company struck oil, discovering on the biggest oil pools ever. A rags-to-riches story that caused men, mostly white across the globe to flood her with marriage proposals at only the age of 11.
Daunting
Finding out you had become wealthy must have been a scary experience, especially for a girl so young. Flooded by people who wanted to catch a glimpse of this girl. Two years earlier, a brother and sister had been killed for their allotment. Sarah was probably saved from the same fate by her global fame, the subject of many a newspaper and magazine. Sarah and her older sister Rebecca moved to Alabama in the autumn of 1914, traveled to the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama, where they were enrolled in its elementary school. From there, they went on to Fisk University in Tennessee and that’s where they were when the Rector family quietly relocated to a substantial house on East 12th Street of Kansas City, Missouri. Often referred to as the “Sarah Rector Mansion,” it was actually owned by Sarah’s mother but was home to the entire close-knit Rector clan.
By the age of 21, Sarah was managing her own finances and was allowed to shop in the local shop despite black people not being allowed in there. They used to shut the shop so she buy her essentials. They would also take clothes to the family home so she could try them on. Sarah was obsessed with buying cars and when her Uncle Frank wrecked one, she bought buy another one. She loved to party and adored music. She loved jazz music and invited Duke Ellington and Count Basie to the house. She married twice, first when she was 20. Having three sons together, the couple separated after seven years. Her second husband was a Kansas restaurant owner who she remained with till her death. Despite the Wall Street Crash in which she lost money, she didn’t lose all of it. She remained comfortable for the rest of her life. A woman who looked after her family and never said the farm was hers. Sarah died in 1967 at the age of 65.
