In a world where villains unleash attacks on Black beauty and attempt to rob Black girls of their self-esteem, a 7-year-old hero by the name of Natalie McGriff seems to be the only girl who can save the day.
No Natalie doesn’t have any super powers or super-human abilities, but her comic book creation Moxie Girl does.
When Natalie realized that the world around her didn’t seem to value and appreciate her natural beauty, she turned what the world deemed a flaw into an awesome super power.
Moxie Girl is a super-powered girl with Afro-textured hair with curls that have the ability to fight crime — particularly crimes targeting the Jacksonville Public Libraries.
The uplifting story gives Black girls a strong, powerful role model who is not only Black but also reminds them that there are no flaws about their natural hair texture.
That’s the lesson Natalie learned when she felt inspired to make the comic book.
“I decided to help Natalie write this book because she was having self-esteem issues regarding her hair and she hated to read,” her mother Angie said in a statement, according to the New Pittsburgh Courier. “She now realizes how powerful and awesome her hair is and that in order for her to write a cool book, she needs to read more books and learn different words.”
Encouraging young girls to read is Moxie Girl’s second super power.
It’s been proven that children tend to be more interested in reading when they can relate to the characters.
Such a vast majority of fictional characters are tailored after the images of white children that a young Black girl with natural hair can find it difficult to uncover a hero that looks like her.
The comic book and its natural hair-loving main character were so impressive that it won Natalie more than $16,000 at a crowd-funding festival called One Spark earlier this month.
Natalie went head to head with more than 500 competitors in order to emerge victorious.
If you look at recent photos of the Moxie Girl creator it seems the greatest prize has nothing to do with the monetary reward.
The young girl who once questioned the beauty of her hair is now proudly touting her natural locks and donning her favorite Moxie Girl outfit with super-strength poses.
