African art museum launches new graphic novel for D.C. youth

The Smithsonian’s National Museum of African Art will be launching its first graphic novel for students based on a Swahili mythological figure from East Africa. The graphic novel was made available Monday on the museum’s official website and will be provided to several middle schools for students in creative writing workshops. The novel was written and illustrated by Jiba Molei Anderson, a professor of animation and video game design at Chicago State University. Anderson is also the proprietor of African-American educational comic book publisher Griot Enterprises. Museum educator Nicole Shivers stated that the novel is a good teaching tool, and students will be able to learn more about Africa and about the African diaspora through visual arts. Participating D.C. schools include Sousa Middle School, Hart Middle School, Jefferson Academy Middle School and Johnson Middle School.