Oklahoma City Middle School Students Create Business Models To Honor Black Wall Street

Sixth-grade students at F.D. Moon Middle School in Oklahoma City designed their own business models as part of an assignment meant to commemorate the 100-year anniversary of the Tulsa Race Massacre and the siege on the Greenwood District, also known as Black Wall Street. 

“When I asked the students if they had heard of the massacre, they hadn’t even heard of the massacre,” said teacher Morgan Perkins. “So as a resident of Oklahoma, and especially at a predominantly black school, you have to know this stuff.” 

All sixth-grade students participated in the project last week. More than 60 students built storefronts out of cardboard. Others created advertisements and digital presentations. 

“They made websites, they made business cards, they made flyers,” Perkins said. “The expectation around Moon is to rise up, and they have truly risen up.” 

Students Elvin Prince and Greg’rion Tucker created a model for a shoe cleaning business called “Trap Cleaner” which, they said, included a brick & mortar storefront and online sales. 

Prince and Tucker said the idea has a universal appeal. 

“Everybody has to clean their shoes,” Prince said. “It could be a side hustle, just in case.” 

The project offered a larger lesson about entrepreneurship and finances. 

“If I’m teaching you how to be a boss today, you can start somewhere else to help keep this community alive,” Perkins said. 

Prince and Tucker said they are interested in owning multiple businesses and giving an economic boost to Oklahoma City’s eastside. 

 “We’re the next generation so, they depend on us to make the east side great again,” Tucker said.