Journey to Freedom: Graduate thesis addresses slavery in Nebraska Territory Post Views: 811
In her master’s thesis – “Journey to Freedom from Nebraska Territory” – Gail Shaffer Blankenau shines a light on a dark part of early Nebraska history by addressing slavery through the eyes of Celia and Eliza Grayson, two young Black women who were enslaved by Nebraska City founder Stephen F. Nuckolls.
Unlike the man who owned them, Stephen F. Nuckolls, their names largely faded into history.
“A lot of people don’t realize there were enslaved people in Nebraska,” said Gail Shaffer Blankenau, a professional genealogist and researcher from Lincoln.