Gail Shaffer Blankenau
The story of the 1858 escape of Celia and Eliza Grayson, two enslaved Black women and how their struggle contributed to legislative efforts to ban slavery in Nebraska.
Description
Author Gail Blankenau shares the story of the 1858 escape of Celia and Eliza Grayson, two enslaved Black women held by Stephen F. Nuckolls, an important figure in the history of the Nebraska Territory, where the presence and potential expansion of slavery was a pressing issue at the time. The Graysons’ escape and Nuckolls’s pursuit of them highlighted the existence of slavery in Nebraska and raised questions about whether the women were truly enslaved or free, based on their location, and called into question the effectiveness of popular sovereignty. Their struggle contributed to legislative efforts to ban slavery in Nebraska and influenced national discussions on slavery as tensions mounted leading up to the Civil War.
Gail Shaffer Blankenau
Title: Independent Scholar
Email: [email protected]
Phone: (402) 416-0704
City: Lincoln
