The power of words and works of art have been used in everything from the campaign against slavery to calls for world peace.
And now children at Mundesley Junior School have been getting an insight into the creative forces that have helped strive for justice and freedom throughout modern history.
Sophie Bugg, Year 6 teacher, said: "We've been looking at the civil rights movement, and how the abolitionists helped to abolish slavery through the use of speeches and placards.
"We've looked at how words can evoke change.
"The children have enjoyed it, although it has been quite shocking for some of them, learning about slavery and how people have been treated."
Miss Bugg said their studies also included the works of the mysterious street artist Banksy, the songs of Bob Marley, the speeches of abolitionist leader William Wilberforce and the campaigner Hannah More.
As part of the project, 51 pupils in Years 5 and 6 drew designs in 'street art'style with a message.
And on Thursday, the school welcomed Norwich-based graffiti artist Knapple, who copied some of the designs onto a wall at the school.
Miss Bugg said the feature wall was designed to carry a universal message.
It shows a line of people linking arms, standing on top of a globe painted blue and yellow, the colours of the Ukrainian flag.
A rainbow radiates out, with the words equality, kindness, equality and peace written in it.
Inside the globe are the school's logo, two hands shaking and a pineapple, Knapple's artistic signature.
Endling slavery: A campaigner for change
Mundesley pupils studied the speeches of one of the most prominent of Britain's anti-slavery campaigners, William Wilberforce.
The Yorkshireman's powerful speeches to parliament served to turn the mood against slavery - one of his most famous quotes was: “You may choose to look the other way but you can never say again that you did not know.”
Wilberforce died in 1833, the same year the Slavery Abolition Act providing for the gradual abolition of slavery in most parts of the British Empire, was passed.
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