History books may not have told you about Sarah Rector, but this November, Russell Wilson and Ciara are making sure you’ll never forget her name.
Amazon MGM Studios has dropped the trailer for Sarah’s Oil, a powerful new film based on the extraordinary life of Sarah Rector, the Oklahoma-born Black girl who became a millionaire before she was old enough to drive. Born in 1902 to Black Freedmen of the Muscogee Creek Nation, Rector was allotted 160 acres of land under an 1866 treaty.
Like most Black children in the program, she was given the worst land — rocky, barren, and considered worthless. What no one saw coming was the oil buried deep below.
In 1913, a leased drilling deal struck black gold, producing 2,500 barrels a day and making the 11-year-old one of the wealthiest African Americans in the country almost overnight. That fortune came with both headlines and hostility — from racist laws forcing her family to assign a white “guardian,” to marriage proposals from grown men, to national newspapers reducing her to stereotypes.
Yet Sarah Rector’s story is more than the “richest Negro girl in the world” headline she was given. It’s about generational wealth, ownership, and the importance of protecting what’s yours in a world that often tries to take it.
Directed by Cyrus Nowrasteh and inspired by Tonya Bolden’s book Searching for Sarah Rector: The Richest Black Girl in America, the film stars rising talent Naya Desir-Johnson as Rector, alongside Sonequa Martin-Green, Zachary Levi, Garret Dillahunt, and Mel Rodriguez.
Russell Wilson and Ciara produced the project through their company, Why Not You Productions, with a mission to shine a light on overlooked stories of Black excellence. “Remember her name… Sarah,” Ciara wrote on Instagram. “Let’s share her faith-based story with the world!”
Sarah’s Oil premieres in theaters on November 7, 2025, not just as a biopic but as a cinematic celebration of Black history, wealth, and resilience.
