From popular classics like Art Spiegelman’s Maus to more niche titles, such as Peter Sís’ The Wall: growing up behind the iron curtain, graphic novels are used in history classrooms up and down the country, offering a fresh way of captivating pupils with stories of the past.

The graphic novel works so well as a supplementary teaching tool in classrooms because it can tell a story in a way different to other mediums, as text and image are combined to provide a narrative that brings topics alive.

This was why I suggested that, on the Runaway Slaves in 18th Century Britain project at the University of Glasgow, we should create our own, as a way of engaging new school audiences with the impact of the Atlantic slave trade in Britain.

With artist and author Warren Pleece, and publisher BHP Comics, we were able to tell a story based on historical fact, in a way that we hope is accessible for all learners of all levels in secondary schools. It covers the escapes and consequences for three individuals in Scotland: Ann, Jamie and Joseph.

We ran workshops in Glasgow and London to test elements of the story with pupils and get input on the type of additional information that would be useful in the classroom.

At the back of each book, there are copies of the primary sources that the story is based on, as well as small essays on different aspects of the Atlantic slave trade, and we hope it can be a valuable teaching resource for years to come. Over the next academic year, I’ll be looking for schools that would be interested in workshops in both history and English classrooms to further evaluate the impact of Freedom Bound and see how the pupils engage with it.

What we already know is that graphic novels have a strong track record of providing pupils with new ways of connecting with stories of the past.

Nelson Mundell is a former history teacher who is now exploring race and ethnicity as a PhD student at the University of Glasgow