Journey to Freedom: The Grayson Sisters’ Escape from Nebraska Territory

Gail Shaffer Blankenau is a professional historian, national speaker, and an award-winning author. Her book, Journey to Freedom: The Grayson Sisters’ Escape from Nebraska Territory (University of Nebraska Press, 2024), explores the dramatic, hidden history of freedom seekers on the antebellum frontier. The work has been widely honored, winning a 2025 Nebraska Book Award, a silver medal at the Midwest Book Awards, and selection as a finalist for One Book One Nebraska for 2027. Gail loves digging into primary documents to bring the human stories of early American history to light, and she currently serves on the advisory board for the digitization of historic Nebraska newspapers.