The Unlikely Baroness

A 1917 newspaper headline called her “The Richest Negro Girl in the World.” Sarah Rector was born in 1904, a member of the Creek Nation in Oklahoma. Her family had been slaves of the Creek before all their slaves were freed and made citizens. In accordance with the Dawes Allotment Act of 1887, all of Sarah’s family members were given allotments of land in Oklahoma. Sarah’s father sold off his and some of his children’s allotments to pay taxes on the rest. Sarah’s allotment was small and rocky, no good for farming, so her father leased it to an oil company. You can guess what happened.

Sarah’s first oil well came in August 1913, producing 105,000 gallons of oil each day. In a time when a nickel bought an ice cream soda, she netted more than $300 a day ($7,000 in 2015 currency). Published drilling updates reported Sarah ended up with over 50 completed wells on her property and the area exceeded the famed Glenn Pool production.

She was not the only Freedman minor whose land produced oil, but other children were taken advantage of by court-assigned guardians who siphoned off profits. Sarah’s guardian was a white family friend, chosen by her parents, who fairly allocated funds to the family under the supervision of a judge who would not put up with fraud. The story of how Sarah Rector’s life changed from that day on is a fascinating one, told in detail at This Land magazine.