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Black History Month
African Money
Age/Grade Level or Audience
Middle school and high school business or economics class.
Description
Assemble an international money chart explaining the types of currency used in African countries.
Procedure
Assign students to work in pairs to create a money chart for Africa listing country, names of larger and smaller denominations of currency, and their international symbols. Obtain samples of the currencies from banks to affix to the chart. For instance:
Country |
Currency |
Symbol |
| Ethiopia | birr, cents | E$ or EB |
| Benin | franc, centimes | Fr or F |
| Lesotho | lot, licente | — |
| Malawi | kwacha, tambala | K |
| South Africa | riyal, qursh, halala | R or SR |
| Zaire | zaire, makuta | Z |
Have students extend the chart to include other countries where the population is largely black, especially Haiti and Jamaica. Explain why travelers to these places would want to know the exchange rate before they left the United States.
Sources
Full service banks, foreign embassies, books on currency or international banking.
Webster's Tenth New Collegiate Dictionary, Merriam – Webster, Inc., 1993.
Alternative Applications
Have students create a flexible, applicable Afro–centric monetary system for an evolving black nation. Include sketches of paper currency and coins, denominations, metals, and weight. Decorate with drawings of notables and famous events connected with the history of the country. Stress prominent female figures.