Nsibidi is an ancient, indigenous system of graphic communication consisting of thousands of ideographic and logographic symbols. It was used by the Ejagham, Efik, and Igbo peoples across the Cross River region which is Southeastern Nigeria and Southwestern Cameroon. The Nsibidi script directly communicated concepts, abstract ideas, and narratives visually. Because a single symbol represents a whole concept (like love, warfare, or justice) rather than a sound, it was capable of cutting across language barriers completely.

To its original users, Nsibidi was a source of great social, political, and spiritual power. Colonial suppression and Western education forced Nsibidi into a massive decline during the 20th century. It was actively utilized by speakers of Ekoid (Ejagham), Benue-Congo branches (Igbo), and Cross River language branches (Efik, Ibibio, Bahumono, and Uyanga). It made it across the Transatlantic Diaspora to Cuba's Abakuá society and influenced Veve religious symbols in Haitian Vodou.

It has three main forms: gestural (sign language), spoken (secret, coded meanings), and written (ideographic symbols). Traditionally, Nsibidi script was found on Legal records, Ceremonial swords, calabashes, tattooed on skin, ceramics and Ukara cloth. Currently it is still used in tattoos, Nail designs, and is making a comeback in pop culture. Nnedi Okorafor's fantasy novels and the Wakandan script seen in Marvel's Black Panther films were heavily inspired by Nsibidi. Today, African typographers and digital artists are actively designing "Neo-Nsibidi" typefaces to preserve this incredible legacy for the digital age. This makes me happy that Africans are thinking about how to keep the script going as we continue to lean on technology.

This would be fun for students to create a square for a classroom quilt or design a T-shirt with Nsibidi script symbolizing their identity or writing a secret message. It may not be completely accurate, but it would be fun and interesting for others to try and figure out the secret code.