She covered a number of national news stories, including the Woman Suffrage Parade of 1913 in Washington, D.C. Elizabeth often referred to suffrage in her articles, arguing that women were as capable as men in all things. The first chapters of Eva The Adventuress, based on the real-life trial of Eva Hamilton, appeared in print before Bly returned to New York. When she returned, she was again assigned to the society page and promptly quit in protest. She went undercover to expose an insane asylums horrors. A year later, at 9:40a.m. on November 14, 1889, and with two days' notice,[27][clarification needed] she boarded the Augusta Victoria, a steamer of the Hamburg America Line,[28] and began her 40,070 kilometer journey. The story of Nellie Bly, the pen name of a young reporter named Elizabeth Cochran, has been told and retold ever since she burst onto the scene in 1887. June 7, 1999. Michael Cochrans rise from mill worker to mill owner to judge meant his family lived very comfortably. It was initially published as a series of articles for the New York World. In 1887 Cochrane left Pittsburgh for New York City and went to work for Joseph Pulitzers New York World. She uncovered the abuse of women by male police officers, identified an employment agency that was stealing from immigrants, and exposed corrupt politicians. https://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/nellie-bly-9296.php. NASA on The Commons, via flickr, Home / Modernizing America, 1889-1920 / Modern Womanhood / Life Story: Nellie Bly. But her negligence, and embezzlement by a factory manager, resulted in the Iron Clad Manufacturing Co. going bankrupt. Before becoming an investigative journalist and travelling around the world in 72 days,. How many children did Laura Ingalls Wilder have? http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/bly/madhouse/madhouse.html, Janet Yellen: The Progress of Women and Minorities in the Field of Economics, Elinor Lin Ostrom, Nobel Prize Economist, Chronicles of American Women: Your History Makers, Women Writing History: A Coronavirus Journaling Project, We Who Believe in Freedom: Black Feminist DC, Learning Resources on Women's Political Participation, https://doi.org/10.1093/anb/9780198606697.article.1601472, https://wams.nyhistory.org/modernizing-america/modern-womanhood/nellie-bly/, www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/nellie-bly, https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2019/07/28/she-went-undercover-expose-an-insane-asylums-horrors-now-nellie-bly-is-getting-her-due/, https://www.heinzhistorycenter.org/learn/women-forging-way/nellie-bly-around-the-world. Died: January 27, 1922, New York City, NY. How many sisters did Ernest Shackleton have? She is often confused with the journalist Nellie Bly (1864-1922). Ten Days in a Mad-House was a raging success and brought Nellie Bly immense fame and recognition as a writer and civil rights activist. Similar reportorial gambits took her into sweatshops, jails, and the legislature (where she exposed bribery in the lobbyist system). [7] Michael Cochran died in 1870, when Elizabeth was 6. During World War I, she traveled to Europe as the first woman to report from the trenches on the front line. Bly went on to gain more fame in 1889, when she traveled around the world in an attempt to break the faux record of Phileas Fogg, the fictional title character of Jules Verne's 1873 novel, Around the World in Eighty Days. Elizabeth Cochran Seaman (born Elizabeth Jane Cochran; May 5, 1864 - January 27, 1922), better known by her pen name Nellie Bly, was an American journalist, who was widely known for her record-breaking trip around the world in 72 days, in emulation of Jules Verne 's fictional character Phileas Fogg, and an expos in which she worked undercover to
Inside Nellie Bly's 10 Days in a Madhouse - Biography The second-season episode "New York City" featured her undercover exploits in the Blackwell's Island asylum,[58] while the third-season episode "Journalism" retold the story of her race around the world against Elizabeth Bisland.[59]. [14] Her second article, "Mad Marriages", was about how divorce affected women. With Caroline Barry, Christopher Lambert, Kelly LeBrock, Julia Chantrey. [38], Bly wrote stories on Europe's Eastern Front during World War I. [60], Bly has been featured as the protagonist of novels by David Blixt,[61] Marshall Goldberg,[62] Dan Jorgensen,[63] Carol McCleary,[64] Pearry Reginald Teo, Maya Rodale,[65] and Christine Converse. How many siblings did Catherine of Aragon have? Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. How many children did Abigail Adams have? Bly told the assistant matron: "There are so many crazy people about, and one can never tell what they will do. One can only speculate what further triumphs and good deeds this remarkable woman might have achieved if only she lived a few years longer. [citation needed] Julia Duffy appeared as Bly in the July 10, 1983 Voyagers! Nellie Bly was the most famous American woman reporter of the 19th century. How many brothers and sisters did Harriet Tubman have? In 1887, Bly stormed into the office of the, Blys six-part series on her experience in the asylum was called. This is a short thirty-minute lesson on Frances Ellen Watkins Harper. Eighty Days: Nellie Bly and Elizabeth Bisland's History-Making Race Around the World. It was one of the few things that helped set her apart from her 14 siblings. How many siblings did St. Catherine of Siena have? In it, she explores the country's people and customs, and even stumbles upon marijuana. [15] In one report, she protested the imprisonment of a local journalist for criticizing the Mexican government, then a dictatorship under Porfirio Daz. Wanting to write pieces that addressed both men and women, Bly began looking for a newspaper that would allow her to write on more serious topics. Elizabeths investigations brought attention to inequalities and often motivated others to take action.
All rights reserved. Unable to maintain the land or their house, Bly's family left Cochran's Mill. Following her marriage, she retired from journalism and became the president of her husbands Iron Clad Manufacturing Company. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. Nellie Bly was a journalist at a time when there were very few women in the workforce. In this lesson, students will experience the tragedy of the commons through a team activity in which they compete for resources. Though New York World continuously covered her travel diaries, it was later in 1890 that Bly published a book about the experience, titling it Around the World in 72 Days. [72], A large species of tarantula from Ecuador, Pamphobeteus nellieblyae Sherwood et al., 2022, was named in her honour by arachnologists.[73]. How many siblings did Mary McLeod Bethune have. Elizabeths writing career started abruptly and unintentionally. History 101: Nellie Bly. Nellie lived on a big farm with her parents Michael Cochran and Mary Kane and her siblings.
19th Century Journalist Nellie Bly Broke Barriers And Became A - Bust At the . Led by New York Assistant District Attorney Vernon M. Davis, with Bly assisting, the asylum investigation resulted in significant changes in New York City's Department of Public Charities and Corrections (later split into separate agencies). "Nellie Bly." Nellie Bly: Around the World in 72 Days. Senator John Heinz History Center. Her father had ten children from his first marriage and five children from his second marriage to Elizabeths mother, Mary Jane Kennedy. In conjunction with one of her first assignments for the World, she spent several days on Blackwell's Island, posing as a mental patient for an expos. (Bly's record was beaten in 1890 by George Francis Train, who finished the trip in 67 days.). After leaving the school, she moved with her mother to the nearby city of Pittsburgh, where they ran a boarding house together. Her plan was to graduate and find a position as a teacher. New-York Historical Society Library. A misogynistic column in the daily, The Pittsburgh Dispatch, prompted her to pen a fiery rebuttal to the editor under the pseudonym Lonely Orphan Girl. Such was the impression of her writing that it won her a full-time employment with the newspaper. https://www.heinzhistorycenter.org/learn/women-forging-way/nellie-bly-around-the-world, Ten Days in the Madhouse. A Celebration of Women Writers. The column, which appeared in The Dispatch on February 1, 1885, was bylined "Nellie Bly.". [36], Bly was, however, an inventor in her own right, receiving U.S. Patent 697,553 for a novel milk can and U.S. Patent 703,711 for a stacking garbage can, both under her married name of Elizabeth Cochrane Seaman. She also interviewed and wrote pieces on several prominent figures of the time, including Emma Goldman and Susan B. Anthony. Bly crafted a fiery rebuttal that grabbed the attention of the paper's managing editor, George Madden, who, in turn, offered her a position. In 1887, at age 23, reporter Nellie Bly, working for Joseph Pulitzer, feigns mental illness to go undercover in notorious Blackwell's Island a woman's insane asylum to expose corruption, abuse and murder. One of Bly's earliest assignments was to author a piece detailing the experiences endured by patients of the infamous mental institution on Blackwell's Island (now Roosevelt Island) in New York City. Bly later enrolled at the Indiana Normal School, a small college in Indiana, Pennsylvania, where she studied to become a teacher. (June 2002) 217-253. The town was founded by her father, Michael Cochran, who provided for his family by working as a judge and landowner. [11], In 1885, a column in the Pittsburgh Dispatch titled "What Girls Are Good For" stated that girls were principally for birthing children and keeping house. How many siblings did Queen Elizabeth I have? However, after only a year and a half, Elizabeth ran out of money and could no longer afford the tuition. How many siblings did Elizabeth Cady Stanton have? Nellie Bly was born on May 5, 1864 (age 57) in Burrell, Pennsylvania, United States She is a celebrity journalist Ten Days in the Madhouse. How many siblings did Wilma Rudolph have? Returning to Pittsburgh, she temporarily continued working for The Pittsburgh Dispatch before leaving for New York City in 1887. She also became renowned for her investigative and undercover reporting, including posing as a sweatshop worker to expose poor working conditions faced by women.
For 72 days, as she jumped cargo ships, trains, tugboats, and rickshaws, newspaper readers had. How many siblings does Bessie Coleman have? Elizabeth positioned herself as an investigative reporter. In her later years, Bly returned to journalism, covering World War I from Europe and continuing to shed light on major issues that impacted women. Life Story: Elizabeth Cochrane, aka Nellie Bly (1864-1922), Women & The American Story, New-York Historical Society Library and Museum. Her father, Michael Cochran, owned a lucrative mill and served as associate justice of Armstrong County. This article was most recently revised and updated by, 8 of Nellie Bly's Most Sensational Stories. How many brothers and sisters did Ella Baker have? Journalist Nellie Bly began writing for the Pittsburgh Dispatch in 1885. Unfortunately, Bly did not manage the finances well and fell victim to fraud by employees that led the firm to declare bankruptcy. Her reporting on life in the asylum shocked the public and led to increased funding to improve conditions in the institution. As she became a teenager, she wanted to portray herself as more sophisticated, and she dropped the nickname and changed her surname to "Cochrane". The marriage was the second one for both Michael and Bly's mother, Mary Jane, who wed after the deaths of their first spouses.
Ten Little-Known Facts about Nellie Bly - Tonya Mitchell The editor chose "Nellie Bly", after the African-American title character in the popular song "Nelly Bly" by Stephen Foster. Born In: Cochrans Mills, Pennsylvania, United States. Elizabeth Cochran (she later added a final e to Cochran) received scant formal schooling. How many siblings did Warren G. Harding have?
The Crazy True Story Of Nellie Bly - Grunge.com How many siblings did Rosalind Franklin have? Her report on the horrifyingly conditions inside the asylum led to numerous reforms in the living condition of the mental patients. Elizabeths report about Blackwells Island earned her a permanent position as an investigative journalist for the World.
How many siblings did Nellie Bly have? | Homework.Study.com Hearst Magazine Media, Inc. Site contains certain content that is owned A&E Television Networks, LLC. After the company suffered losses from embezzlement, Bly returned to journalism and reported from Europe during World War I. How many siblings did Cleopatra VII have? She told him about her plans to travel alone by train and ship around the world. [45] The winning proposal, The Girl Puzzle by Amanda Matthews, was announced on October 16, 2019. Biography and associated logos are trademarks of A+E Networksprotected in the US and other countries around the globe.
The story of an investigative journalist who used her career to shed light on the horrors of urban life and break gender stereotypes. Elizabeths boss did not want to anger Pittsburghs elite and quickly reassigned her as a society columnist. [43][44], In 2019, the Roosevelt Island Operating Corporation put out an open call for artists to create a Nellie Bly Memorial art installation on Roosevelt Island. How many siblings did Sybil Ludington have? Nellie Bly became a star journalist by going undercover as a patient at a New York City mental health asylum in 1887 and exposing its terrible conditions in the New York World. In 2015, director Timothy Hines released 10 Days in a Madhouse, which also depicts Bly's harrowing experience in the asylum. How many siblings did Queen Liliuokalani have? On the final lap of her journey, the World transported her from San Francisco to New York by special train; she was greeted everywhere by brass bands, fireworks, and like panoply. Astronaut Ellen Ochoa, mission specialist, carries her son Wilson Miles-Ochoa following the STS-96 crew return at Ellington Field.
After a ten-day stay at the asylum, it was at the behest of the newspaper that Bly was freed. Into the Madhouse with Nellie Bly: Girl Stunt Reporting in the Late Nineteenth Century America. American Quarterly, 54 no 2.