‘World’s richest Negro girl’ drew media ridicule and alarm

Sarah Rector pictured in 1960 with her nephew, Charles E. Brown jnr. (Image: Rector/Brown Family)

Sun, 16 Mar 2025

By Sydney TrentDeborah Brown grew up calling her “Aunt Sister”, and she remembers her storied life through the haze of childhood in segregated Kansas City, Missouri, more than a half a century ago.There were the fancy limos and Cadillacs that ferried young relatives to school and out for barbecues, the white-owned department store that opened its doors just so Sarah Rector could shop; the rolling farmland where Rector would invite Brown’s mother and the children for family gatherings.Brown, then a schoolgirl living in a two-be...

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