Searching for Sarah Rector: The Richest Black Girl in America

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 movieÊSarahÕs Oil,Êset to release inÊDecember 2025Êfrom 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 RectorÕs 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 dramaÑand dangerÑthat 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 SarahÕs life.