Atchison County Library’s Speaker Series to present Gail Blankenau

Join the Atchison County Library on Tuesday, December 3, 2024, for a special event with Gail Blankenau, author of “Journey To Freedom, Uncovering the Grayson Sisters’ Escape from Nebraska Territory.” The event will be held at 6:00 p.m. at the Tarkio Resource Center, 405 S. 11th Street.

In “Journey to Freedom,” Gail Shaffer Blankenau provides the first detailed history of black enslavement in Nebraska Territory and the escape of these two enslaved women from Nebraska City. Poised on the “frontier,” the Graysons’ escape demonstrated that unique opportunities beckoned at the confluence of Nebraska, Missouri, Iowa, and Kansas, and their actions challenged slavery’s tentative expansion into the west and its eventual demise in an era of territorial fluidity. Their escape and the violence that followed prompted considerable debate across the country and led to the Nebraska legislature’s move to prohibit slavery. Drawing on multiple collections, records, and slave narratives, “Journey to Freedom” sheds light on the Grayson women’s courage and agency as they became high-profile figures in the national debate between proslavery and antislavery factions in the antebellum period.

Gail has previously spoken at the Nebraska State Genealogical Conference, the National Willa Cather Center, several other libraries, and on podcasts. Please RSVP for this event by calling 660-744-5404 or RSVP through the Atchison County Library’s Facebook event page.