Celebrate Black History Month: Learn More About Sarah Rector and Oklahoma Oil

Supplies Needed: Scissors, Glue or Glue Stick, Ruler/Pencil, Crayons (optional)

Celebrate Black History Month by learning more about Sarah Rector (March 3, 1902 – July 22, 1967) and creating your own oil derrick. Sarah Rector was born in 1902 near the all-black town of Taft, Oklahoma. She was a descendant of the Muscogee Creek Nation. As such, she was listed as a freedmen on the Dawes Rolls, and entitled to land allotments under the Treaty of 1866 made by the United States with the Five Civilized Tribes. The parcel of land allotted to Sarah Rector was leased to the Standard Oil Company and 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. Sarah Rector began to receive a daily income of $300 from this strike and was soon one of the richest 11-year- olds in the world.