• Searching for Sarah Rector: The Richest Black Girl in America - Ingram
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Abrams Books for Young Readers, 2014-07-01

Searching for Sarah Rector: The Richest Black Girl in America

Searching for Sarah Rector: The Richest Black Girl in America

Tonya Bolden, Author

Hardcover

9781419708466

$24.99 USD
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Recounts the story of the 1914 disappearance of eleven-year-old Sarah Rector, an African American who was part of the Creek Indian people and whose land had made her wealthy, and what it reveals about race, money, and American society.
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Keywords and Themes: African American & Black • Biography & Autobiography • Concepts • Historical • History • JNF007020 • JNF007120 • JNF013040 • JNF018010 • JNF025200 • Juvenile Nonfiction • Money • United States - 19th Century • Women

Age Range • 8-12

Pages • 80

Subjects • African American women • Oklahoma • African Americans • Women millionaires • Millionaires • Creek Indians • Petroleum industry and trade • History • 20th century • Creek County (Okla.) • Women • Indians of North America • Rector • Sarah • Creek County

Categories • Juvenile Nonfiction | Biography & Autobiography | Historical • Juvenile Nonfiction | Biography & Autobiography | Women • Juvenile Nonfiction | African American & Black • Juvenile Nonfiction | History | United States - 19th Century • Juvenile Nonfiction | Concepts | Money

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, set to release in December 2025 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.

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