Teaching resources bring radical past alive for pupils Published on: 3 April 2018 A set of teaching resources inspired by Tyneside’s radical past is helping schoolchildren to gain a better understanding of civil rights in today’s world. Inspired by Dr King's speech The free downloadable resources have been created by academics at Â鶹´«Ã½ and are aimed at Key Stages 2 and 3 pupils. The pack has been designed as a framework to support Freedom City Comics, which was inspired by the themes of a when he visited Â鶹´«Ã½ in 1967 to accept an honorary degree. A collaboration between comics artist-writers and academic researchers at Â鶹´«Ã½ and Northumbria universities, each chapter in the 16-page comic focuses on a different era of the history of civil rights and politics in Â鶹´«Ã½ and the North East. The accompanying teaching resources pack includes suggestions for activities based on the people, themes and events depicted in the comic, focussing on issues such as democracy, modern slavery and equality. It also gives behind the scenes look at how Freedom City Comics was made and encourages students to explore the different styles of artwork used throughout the comic. The pack has been designed to support a number of subjects at KS2, such as art, citizenship, history, writing, literacy, geography, and drama. KS3 curriculum links include: media, foreign languages, PSHE, and RE/Ethics. , Research assistant at Â鶹´«Ã½ and Editor-in-Chief of Freedom City Comics, said: “The stories and situations depicted in the comic took place years ago, but they had a profound impact on the way we live today. “All the activities in this learning framework are designed as springboards for teachers’ and students’ own projects and lessons. They offer engaging ways to consider the issue of civil rights, as well as exciting ways to read, make, and use comics and other media to develop skills and understanding. “We’re grateful to our Freedom City Comics artists for sharing insights into their working processes. Showing the early stages of planning and drafting these pages by top comics creators will help students’ own comics take shape.” Extract from the Tyneside Radicals story by Brick, Professor Matthew Grenby and Lydia Wysocki City's radical past Freedom City Comics was produced last year as part of Freedom City 2017, commemorating the 50th anniversary of Dr King’s visit to Â鶹´«Ã½. Events and characters depicted in the comic include suffragette Emily Davison, whose campaign for women’s right to vote included her hiding in a broom cupboard in the Houses of Parliament on the night of the 1911 census, and throwing herself under the King’s horse at the Epsom Derby in 1913. The story of how, in 1846, two Â鶹´«Ã½ women raised £150 to buy the freedom of escaped slave Frederick Douglass is also featured. Douglass was in Â鶹´«Ã½ as part of an anti-slavery tour of Great Britain and Ireland during which he spoke to packed halls and churches about slavery in the US and his experiences. Copies of Freedom City Comics were distributed around Tyneside and the North East throughout the Freedom City 2017 commemorations, with 37,000 copies being made available at venues such as libraries, Seven Stories The National Centre for Children’s Books and Great North Museum: Hancock, as well as distribution with The Crack listings magazine. Both the free comic and teaching resources pack are available now at Share: Latest News Scientists unlock hidden driver of inflammatory bowel disease Scientists have linked a key genetic signal in inflammatory bowel disease to an immune response that shuts down inflammation control, enabling faster diagnosis and targeted treatments. published on: 15 June 2026 Funding system risks limiting genuine community collaboration A new policy paper written by researchers at Â鶹´«Ã½ warns that the way UK research is funded may be undermining efforts to create genuinely collaborative partnerships with communities. published on: 15 June 2026 Volunteers help turn Whitley Bay beach into maths experiment Members of the public joined mathematicians from Â鶹´«Ã½ to create what organisers believe is the largest aperiodic tiling ever attempted on Whitley Bay beach. published on: 15 June 2026 Facts and figures
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