Graphic lesson on Scotland’s key role in slave trade
It is hoped that Freedom Bound will help teachers engage their pupils with the history of Scotland’s slaves, says Alison Campsie
Agraphic novel which tells the story of Scotland’s role in the Alantic slave trade is being distributed to every state secondary school in the country.
Freedom Bound by Warren Pleece reflects the findings of the Runaway Slaves project at Glasgow University, which documents those who tried to flee their masters after being brought to the United Kingdom.
A class set will be sent to every state secondary school in Scotland over the next few weeks.
Around 70 slaves are now known to have gone on the run in Scotland during the 18th century, with many brought to Scotland from the plantations of North America where Scottish merchants had large stakes in land and trade routes.
Freedom Bound features the stories of three slaves who ended up in Scotland, including that of Ann, who fled the lodgings of Dr Gustavus Brown in Glasgow on 13 February, 1727.
She was wearing a brass collar at the time, which was engraved with the words ‘Gustavus Brown in Dalkeith, his Negro, 1726’. A two guineas reward was offered for Ann’s return, but her fate is not known.
Nelson Mundell, PHD candidate on the Runaway Slaves project, said: “All of us on the Leverhulme Trust funded Runaway Slaves in 18th Century Britain team were keen to engage as wide an audience as possible with our findings.
“I had arrived on the back of a few years teaching secondary school history, and knew the value of accessible and enjoyable media in the pursuit of teaching and learning.” Mr Mundell, who previously ran a graphic novel, added: “I had seen first hand how they could be used to engage pupils that normally would have a hard time maintaining interest.”
Colleagues Professor Simon Newman and Dr Stephen Mullen also ‘quickly recongised’ the potential of the graphic novel to tell the Runaway Slaves story, Mr Mundell added.
Graphic artist Warren Pleece used material gleaned from 18th century newspaper advertisements that called for the return of the missing slaves with workshops run in Glasgow and London to test elements of the story with pupils.
Freedom Bound has taken threeand-a-half years to complete with the books to be distributed across schools following a grant from the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC).
The Runaway Slaves project has done some work with schools in the past to highlight Scotland’s role in the slave trade with some resources given to history teachers.
“Saying that, nothing we’ve done comes close to the potential reach of Freedom Bound,” Mr Mundell said.
He added: “While some individual teachers cover it already, the story of slavery within Britain is often overlooked in the Atlantic Slave Trade courses: the focus is placed on the enslaved in the Caribbean and North American colonies.
“It’s our hope that Freedom Bound can help teachers in schools engage their classes with the history of the enslaved in Scotland, and by extension Britain, encouraging an interest in history and perhaps impetus to undertake further research in their local area.”
Other runaway slaves in Scotland documented in Freedom Bound include Jamie Montgomerie, who was brought to Beith in Ayrshire from Virginia by his owner Robert Shedden to train as a carpenter in the workshop of his brother-in-law.
He ran away from his master, eventually settling in Edinburgh where he worked as a joiner and perhaps even worshipped at a church in the city, until he was captured and put in jail, where he died.
The story of Joseph Knight is also examined. Knight, an African, was held in servitude in Scotland after he made the journey from Jamaica with his owner, John Wedderburn. He challenged his unfree status in the Court of Session, which famously ruled that slavery was not recognised by Scots law and that the laws of Jamaica did not extend here.