Black History Month Resources
- After reading a reality-based story about an all-black Little League team that faced racial prejudice, students will determine resources used in the production of baseball-related goods and complete comprehension and analysis-driven activities tied to key vocabulary covered within the lesson.
PDFOne Plastic Bag (Grades 3-5, 6-8)
- Students will listen to a story from the book One Plastic Bag, about an entrepreneur; watch a video about pollutants and distinguish between reducing, reusing and recycling; interpret data; and develop their own infographic.
PDFSweet Potato Pie (Grades 3-5)
- This lesson highlights the resources needed for a business and key information entrepreneurs should consider before starting a business. Through the story an activities, students will learn about division of labor and identify risks and rewards entrepreneurs may face when starting a business.
PDFThose Shoes (Grades PK-2, 3-5)
- In this lesson, students listen to a story about a boy who wants a certain pair of shoes because his classmates have them. They learn that their tastes and preferences affect shopping decisions. Students conduct a class survey on shoe choices and graph their results as a final activity.
Black Women Business Startups (Middle/High School)
- Businesses owned by black women have experienced unprecedented growth over the past two decades. National data and interviews with black women business owners have been compiled in a report, video testimonials and an infographic.
PDFProgress Through Parity: How Minority Banks Changed the Financial Landscape (High School)
- Students examine primary source documents and non-fictional reading about the history and unique role of the first Black-owned and operated financial institutions in the U.S.
PDFTeaching Tips: Education, Minorities and Job Opportunities (High School)
- Look at the correlation between educational level and job opportunities for minorities in the Midwest. Read and discuss the article in class using discussion questions and extension activities.
The History of Black Banking: Books and Resources
A Great Moral and Social Force: A History of Black Banks
- A historical reference on Black community banks, and serves as a guide to help all Americans think differently about our relationships with banks. The goal of the latest volume of the Kansas City Fed's historical book series is to move across eras and examine some of the communities where banks played a dual role in establishing both economic opportunity and social equality. Learn more and download a digital copy or order a paper copy of the book.
Let Us Put Our Money Together: The Founding of America’s First Black Banks
- The history of America’s earliest African American banks is something that is not widely known. These banks served as an important source of credit while also offering innumerable other benefits to the consumers and communities that they served. Learn more and access the book.
- Let us Put our Money Together - Virtual Exhibit
Professional Development Webinars for Educators
These webinars can provide perspectives and insights to equip educators to be more culturally responsive in the classroom and in their curricula.
The Culture of Poverty: Its Effect on Youth Education
Investigate how socio-economic scarcity manifests in the lives and learning capacity of youth, as well as how support systems within the community and education system offer assistance, advocacy and programs to promote financial sustainability.
Current Perspectives on Racial Economic Opportunity
This Federal Reserve Education event in the Discussing Race and Inequality in the Classroom series invited industry experts and well-known researchers and economists to share their views on how racial inequality impacts economic mobility and opportunity.
PDFLet Us Put Our Money Together: The Founding of America's First Black Banks
PDFProgress Through Parity: How Minority Banks Changed the Financial Landscape
Discussing Race and Inequality in the Classroom
Learn strategies for engaging your students on this timely and relevant topic. Hear from economists with years of teaching experience and research sharing strategies for discussing race in the economics classroom, whether at the high school or college level.
Cultural Relevance in the Classroom: Connecting Students' Perspectives to Content
Learn about Federal Reserve System education resources that engage and benefit elementary and middle school students of all backgrounds. Discover resources and materials that can help cultivate a healthy learning environment for students diverse in a variety of ways, including by race, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status. Targeted toward K-8 students, the lessons are suited to more than personal finance and economics courses including social studies, history, or geography classes.
Lesson Plans
These lesson plans integrate culturally responsive topics and issues within their content for use in the K-12 classroom.
- After reading a reality-based story about an all-black Little League team that faced racial prejudice, students will determine resources used in the production of baseball-related goods and complete comprehension and analysis-driven activities tied to key vocabulary covered within the lesson.
PDFCrenshaw (Grades 3-5, 6-8)
- This lesson will introduce students to challenges faced by those who live in poverty due to homelessness, unemployment and/or low-income jobs. Students will read the book Crenshaw about a boy who creates an imaginary friend to help him deal with difficult experiences in life.
PDFOne Plastic Bag (Grades 3-5, 6-8)
- In this lesson, students will learn about responsible consumption and how the choices we make when disposing of trash can impact the environment. Students will listen to a story from the book One Plastic Bag, about an entrepreneur; watch a video about pollutants and distinguish between reducing, reusing and recycling. Students will interpret graphs and data within an infographic and demonstrate their knowledge of responsible consumption through developing their own infographic in collaborative groups.
PDFSweet Potato Pie (Grades 3-5)
- This lesson highlights the resources needed for a business and key information entrepreneurs should consider before starting a business. Through the story an activities, students will learn about division of labor and identify risks and rewards entrepreneurs may face when starting a business.
PDFThose Shoes (Grades PK-2, 3-5)
- In this lesson, students listen to a story about a boy who wants a certain pair of shoes because his classmates have them. They learn that their tastes and preferences affect shopping decisions. Students conduct a class survey on shoe choices and graph their results as a final activity.
PDFTwenty-two Cents: Muhammad Yunus and the Village Bank (Grades 9-12)
- In this lesson students will explore a wide array of economic concepts related to entrepreneurship, banking, poverty, and economic decision making through the story of Muhammad Yunus, the founder of Grameen Bank. Students will take a variety of perspectives regarding current banking practices in Bangladesh, engage in PACED decision making, analyze economic data, compare economic issues in Bangladesh and the United States, and craft hypotheses on how current banking practices came to be.
- Businesses owned by black women have experienced unprecedented growth over the past two decades. National data and interviews with black women business owners have been compiled in a report, video testimonials and an infographic.
PDFProgress Through Parity: How Minority Banks Changed the Financial Landscape
- Students examine primary source documents and non-fictional reading about the history and unique role of the first Black-owned and operated financial institutions in the U.S.
PDFTeaching Tips: Education, Minorities and Job Opportunities
- Look at the correlation between educational level and job opportunities for minorities in the Midwest. Read and discuss the article in class using discussion questions and extension activities.