Sarah Rector
Sarah Rector (March 3, 1902 – July 22, 1967) was an African American woman who became the second black woman millionaire in the United States.
Rector was born in 1902 near the all-black town of Taft in what was then still Indian Territory to Joseph Rector and his wife, Rose McQueen (both born 1881). Her parents were the descents of former black slaves of the Muskogee Tribe, also known as the Creek Nation. As such, they and their descendants were listed as freedmen on the Dawes Rolls, by which they were entitled to land allotments under the Treaty of 1866 made by the United States with the Five Civilized Tribes. Consequently, nearly 600 black children, or Creek Freedmen minors as they were called, inherited 160 acres of land. This was a mandatory step of the process of integration of the Indian Territory with Oklahoma Territory to form what is now the State of Oklahoma.
The parcel allotted to Sarah Rector was located in Glenpool, 60 miles from where she and her family lived. It was typically considered inferior infertile soil, not suitable for farming, with better land being reserved for members of the tribe. The family lived simply but not in poverty, yet the $30 annual property tax on Sarah’s parcel was such a burden that her father petitioned the Muskogee County Court to sell the land. He was denied because of certain restrictions placed on the land, for which reason he was required to continue paying the taxes.
To help cover this expense, in February 1911, Joseph Rector leased Sarah’s parcel to the Standard Oil Company. In 1913, the independent oil driller B.B. Jones drilled a well on the property which produced a “gusher” that began to bring in 2,500 barrels of oil a day. Rector began to receive a daily income of $300 from this strike. The law at the time required full-blooded Indians, black adults and children who were citizens of Indian Territory with significant property and money, to be assigned “well-respected” white guardians who often cheated them out of their lands. Thus, as soon as this windfall began, pressure was placed to change Rector’s guardianship from her parents to a local white resident named T.J. (or J.T.) Porter, an individual known to the family. Multiple new wells on the site were also productive, and Rector’s allotment subsequently became part of the famed Cushing-Drumright Oil Field. In October 1913, Rector received royalties of $11,567.
Content: Wikipedia
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