Searching for Sarah Rector: The Richest Black Girl in America - Hardcover

Bolden, Tonya

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1419708465 ISBN 13: 9781419708466

Publisher: Harry N. Abrams, 2014

Synopsis

The incredible and little-known story of Sarah Rector, once the wealthiest Black girl in America, from Coretta Scott King Honor Award winner Tonya Bolden.

The inspiration for the movie Sarah’s Oil, the major motion picture from Amazon MGM Studios.

Searching for Sarah Rector tells the true story of a young Black girl born in Indian Territory (land in today's Oklahoma) in the early 1900s. Author Tonya Bolden sets Rector’s rags-to-riches tale against the backdrop of American history, including the creation of Indian Territory; the making of Oklahoma, with its Black towns and boomtowns; and the wild behavior of many greedy and corrupt adults.

At the age of eleven, Sarah was a very rich young girl. Even so, she was powerless . . . helpless in the whirlwind of drama―and danger―that swirled around her. Then one day word came that she had disappeared.

This is her story, and the story of other children like her, filled with ups and downs, bizarre goings-on, and a heap of crimes.

Out of a trove of primary documents, including court and census records, as well as interviews with family members, Bolden painstakingly pieces together the events of Sarah’s life.

About this title

About the Author

Tonya Bolden has written more than 20 books for children and adults. Her book Tell All the Children Our Story: Memories and Mementos of Being Young and Black in America was named a Best Book of the Year by School Library Journal. Her Wake Up Our Souls: A Celebration of Black American Artists received a starred review in Booklist magazine. Maritcha: A Nineteenth-Century American Girl was named a YALSA Best Book for Young Adults, an ALSC 2006 Notable Children’s Book, a NAPPA Gold Award Winner, a CCBC Best Book of the Year, a New York Public Library Book for the Teen Age, and a Coretta Scott King Honor Book. She lives in New York City.

Reviews

Gr 6–8—When Sarah Rector turned 18 in 1920, the young black woman had amassed a fortune estimated at $1 million. In telling her story, Bolden makes a largely unknown portion of American history accessible to young readers. Rector and her family were "Creek freedmen," black citizens of the Creek Indian nation. When the Creeks were forced to resettle west of the Mississippi in the 1800s, each one received a land allotment. Sarah's contained rich oil deposits, making her enormously wealthy. As a result, there was great media interest in her whereabouts and lifestyle, though much of the reporting was highly inaccurate and speculative. When she disappeared, the black-owned newspaper the Chicago Defender and the NAACP even suggested that Sarah had been kidnapped and that her legal guardians were profiting at her expense. All of this was untrue. In telling Rector's story, Bolden admittedly had to deal with gaps in information. Yet, piecing together the facts clearly reflects Bolden's skill as a history writer-her rigorous questioning of documents; her own clearly stated position on what the "facts" mean; and her extensive use of visual material, such as newspaper articles, maps, paintings, and photographs. In an author's note, Bolden tells how she first learned about Sarah, how she researched her life, and how-in the process-she found evidence that was contrary to what she expected. This book will be extremely useful to teachers and librarians seeking material to align with Common Core State Standards dealing with the craft of writing of informational text. Pair it with Bolden's Maritcha (Abrams, 2005), another book that deals with the challenges of writing history when there are gaps in available historical evidence.—Myra Zarnowski, City University of New York

*Starred Review* When Oklahoma became a state in 1907, young Sarah Rector was among the African American members of the Creek nation who were granted allotments of land. From a poor farming family, Sarah was 12 years old when an oil well drilled on her land became a gusher. A guardian was appointed to manage her rapidly increasing fortune until she came of age, and newspapers began to print poorly investigated and sometimes alarming stories about her. Rector’s biography takes some unexpected turns as Bolden follows leads that slant the story one way, only to discover that the truth lies in another direction. In this meticulously researched book, she separates fact from fiction as she traces the relevant history of the Creek nation, land allotments in early twentieth-century Oklahoma, and Rector’s life. Part of the story becomes Bolden’s challenging search for reliable information, and she integrates some of those personal details into the narrative. Along the way, the book offers intriguing glimpses of American life during Rector’s time period. Handsome design and excellent production enhance the effectiveness of the many archival illustrations, which include photos, maps, and legal documents. Like Scott Reynolds Nelson and Marc Aronson’s Ain’t Nothing But a Man (2007), this handsome book illuminates the process of historical research as well as the enigmatic figure in the spotlight. Grades 6-9. --Carolyn Phelan

Edition details

• Publisher: Harry N. Abrams
• Publication date: 2014
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1419708465
• ISBN 13: 9781419708466
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 80