Journalist Nellie Bly began writing for the Pittsburgh Dispatch in 1885. Nellie Bly: Around the World in 72 Days. Senator John Heinz History Center. Second, she wanted to prove that women were capable of traveling just as well asif not better thanmen. The evening world. How has Title IX impacted women in education and sports over the last 5 decades? This prompted Elizabeth to write a response under the pseudonym "Lonely Orphan Girl". Chapultepec Castle, Mexico City. The reporter known as Nellie Bly was born Elizabeth Jane Cochran in Cochran's Mills, Pennsylvania, where her father was a mill owner and county judge. Nellie Bly was born as Elizabeth Jane Cochran on May 5, 1864 in Cochrans Mills, Armstrong County, Pennsylvania, to a mill worker Michael Cochran and his wife Mary Jane. Also Known As: Elizabeth Jane Cochran, Elisabeth Cochrane Seaman, place of death: New York City, United States, Notable Alumni: Indiana University Of Pennsylvania, education: Indiana University Of Pennsylvania, See the events in life of Nellie Bly in Chronological Order, (Journalist and Writer Known for Her Record-BreakingTrip Around the Worldin 72 Days), http://www.newseum.org/2015/03/17/unsung-heroes-nellie-bly/, http://womenshistory.about.com/od/blynellie/p/Nellie-Bly.htm, https://www.post-gazette.com/life/lifestyle/2015/01/25/Honoring-Nellie-Bly-s-trip-125-years-ago-a-British-woman-retraces-her-steps-around-the-globe/stories/201501250014, https://www.biography.com/people/nellie-bly-9216680. It was initially published as a series of articles for the New York World. 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. [72], A large species of tarantula from Ecuador, Pamphobeteus nellieblyae Sherwood et al., 2022, was named in her honour by arachnologists.[73]. [42] Bly was one of four journalists honored with a US postage stamp in a "Women in Journalism" set in 2002. In early 2019, Lifetime released a thriller based on Bly's experience as an undercover reporter in a women's mental ward. Elizabeth traveled light, taking only the dress she wore, a cape, and a small travelers bag. In 1885, Elizabeth read an article in the Pittsburgh Dispatch that argued a womans place was in the home, to be a helpmate to a man. She strongly disagreed with this opinion and sent an angry letter to the editor anonymously signed Lonely Orphan Girl.. What does that mean, and how did her writing contribute to reform efforts on a variety of issues? (June 2002) 217-253. [12][11][13] The editor, George Madden, was impressed with her passion and ran an advertisement asking the author to identify herself. She faced rejection after rejection as news editors would not consider hiring a woman. . Though most of her works were based on throwing light at the appalling condition of women in the society, and the need to uplift them, she is best remembered for her work on an asylum expos in 1887 in which she faked insanity to get into a mental asylum and reported about the horrific condition of the mental patients. National Women's History Museum. Nellie Bly married manufacturer Robert Seaman in 1895. Unfortunately, Bly did not manage the finances well and fell victim to fraud by employees that led the firm to declare bankruptcy. [41], In 1998, Bly was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame. She moved to New York City in 1886, but found it extremely difficult to find work as a female reporter in the male-dominated field. In 1887, Bly relocated to New York City and began working for the New York World, the publication that later became famously known for spearheading "yellow journalism." As she became a teenager, she wanted to portray herself as more sophisticated, and she dropped the nickname and changed her surname to "Cochrane". Blys six-part series on her experience in the asylum was called Ten Days in the Madhouse and quickly made Bly one of the most famous journalists in the country. This lesson will teach you about Nellie Bly, her adventures, her inventions, and why she wrote under a fake name! June 7, 1999. [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. Lutes, Jean Marie. Pace, Lawson. Unable to maintain the land or their house, Bly's family left Cochran's Mill. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). How might Elizabeths position as a woman have helped her investigative reporting? [15] In one report, she protested the imprisonment of a local journalist for criticizing the Mexican government, then a dictatorship under Porfirio Daz. She breathed her last on January 27, 1922 at St. Mark's Hospital in New York City due to pneumonia. Life Story: Elizabeth Cochrane, aka Nellie Bly (1864-1922), Women & The American Story, New-York Historical Society Library and Museum. How many sisters did Charles Dickens have? Nellie Bly gained international stardom for her world tour stunt that multiplied her fame. 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. In 1888, Bly suggested to her editor at the New York World that she take a trip around the world, attempting to turn the fictional Around the World in Eighty Days (1873) into fact for the first time. It shed light on the disturbing living condition of patients, the neglect on part of the authorities and the physical abuse meted out to patients. Shortly after her first article was published, Elizabeth changed her pseudonym from Lonely Orphan Girl to Nellie Bly, after a popular song. Unfortunately, Bly did not manage the finances well and fell victim to fraud by employees that led the firm to declare bankruptcy. While still working as a writer, Bly died from pneumonia on January 27, 1922. She was 57 years old. Nellie Bly was an unwavering advocate for social change, a journalistic dynamo, and a force of nature. Her reporting introduced readers to the horrors of insane asylums and to international travel. Born in 1864, Bly was the thirteenth of 15 children in a family headed by Michael Cochran, a mill owner and county judge. Michael had 10 children with his first wife, and he had 5 children with his second wife. She married millionaire Robert Seaman in 1895, but after his death she suffered financial reverses, and she returned to newspaper work on the New York Journal in 1920. [45] The winning proposal, The Girl Puzzle by Amanda Matthews, was announced on October 16, 2019. Lib. The marriage was the second one for both Michael and Bly's mother, Mary Jane, who wed after the deaths of their first spouses. Blys successful career reached new heights in 1889 when she decided to travel around the world after reading the popular book by Jules Verne, At the age of 30, Bly married millionaire Robert Seamen and retired from journalism. Elizabeth Jane Cochran, a.k.a. "Bly, Nellie (1864-1922), reporter and manufacturer. (Bly's record was beaten in 1890 by George Francis Train, who finished the trip in 67 days.). These changes included a larger appropriation of funds for the care of mentally ill patients, additional physician appointments for stronger supervision of nurses and other healthcare workers, and regulations to prevent overcrowding and fire hazards at the city's medical facilities. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. 1890. Michael had 10 children with his first wife and five more with Mary Jane, who had no prior children. After leaving the school, she moved with her mother to the nearby city of Pittsburgh, where they ran a boarding house together. She regularly sent articles reporting about the lives and customs of Mexican people which were later published as a book titled, Six Months in Mexico. We may earn commission from links on this page, but we only recommend products we back. 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 report on a mental institution from within. 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. For ten days Elizabeth experienced the physical and mental abuses suffered by patients. [46] The Girl Puzzle opened to the public in December, 2021. Elizabeth too began writing under the pen name Nellie Bly after the Stephen Foster song. Our editors will review what youve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. Astronaut Ellen Ochoa, mission specialist, carries her son Wilson Miles-Ochoa following the STS-96 crew return at Ellington Field. For a time, she was one of the leading women industrialists in the United States. Her father, Michael Cochran, owned a lucrative mill and served as associate justice of Armstrong County. "Nellie Bly." Nellie Bly was born Elizabeth Jane Cochran on May 5, 1864 in Cochran's Mill, Pennsylvania. Working for Joseph Pulitzer's New York World, Bly gained national fame for her undercover work as a patient in a women's mental asylum in New York City. [15] "Mad Marriages" was published under the byline of Nellie Bly, rather than "Lonely Orphan Girl". Cihak and Zima (photographer), Ida B. Wells-Barnett, ca. Elizabeth marched into the Dispatch offices and introduced herself. How many siblings did Dorothy Vaughan have? She only attended one year of boarding school, because the financial burden placed on the family following her father's death forced her to quit school. In 1885, Bly began working as a reporter for the Pittsburgh Dispatch at a rate of $5 per week. What was nellie blys favorite color? Interestingly, rival newspaper New York Cosmopolitan had sent their reporter Elizabeth Bisland on a similar journey but she arrived four days later. How many siblings did Emily Dickinson have? New York, Nellie Bly Press, 2017. She went undercover at a factory where she experienced unsafe working conditions, poor wages, and long hours. She was 57 years of age. 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. Nellie Bly tied the nuptial knot in 1895 with the millionaire manufacturer Robert Seaman. [17] Madden was impressed again and offered her a full-time job. She stayed there until the World rescued her ten days later. July 28, 2019. https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2019/07/28/she-went-undercover-expose-an-insane-asylums-horrors-now-nellie-bly-is-getting-her-due/. In business, her curiosity and independent spirit flourished. Her honest reporting about the horrors of workers lives attracted negative attention from local factory owners. siblings: Harry Cummings Cochrane. The articles were subsequently collected in Six Months in Mexico (1888). Gertrude Kasebier, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution. It was no mere armchair observation, because Bly got herself committed . Bly went on to patent several inventions related to oil manufacturing, many of which are still used today. Feb. 1, 2000; Accessed April 27, 2022. https://doi.org/10.1093/anb/9780198606697.article.1601472. She told him about her plans to travel alone by train and ship around the world. Robert was a millionaire who owned the Iron Clad Manufacturing Company and the American Steel Barrel Company. [1] [2] Bly followed her Blackwell's expos with similar investigative work, including editorials detailing the improper treatment of individuals in New York jails and factories, corruption in the state legislature and other first-hand accounts of malfeasance. [28] Bly's journey was a world record, though it only stood for a few months, until George Francis Train completed the journey in 67 days.[31]. How many brothers and sisters did Ella Baker have? How many siblings did Eleanor Roosevelt have? Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree. Religious Experience and Journal of Mrs. Jarena Lee: giving an account of her call to preach the gospel, frontispiece. When Bly was six, her father died suddenly and without a will. In an effort to accurately expose the conditions at the asylum, she pretended to be a mental patient in order to be committed to the facility, .css-47aoac{-webkit-text-decoration:underline;text-decoration:underline;text-decoration-thickness:0.0625rem;text-decoration-color:inherit;text-underline-offset:0.25rem;color:#A00000;-webkit-transition:all 0.3s ease-in-out;transition:all 0.3s ease-in-out;}.css-47aoac:hover{color:#595959;text-decoration-color:border-link-body-hover;}where she lived for 10 days. However, the newspaper soon received complaints from factory owners about her writing, and she was reassigned to women's pages to cover fashion, society, and gardening, the usual role for women journalists, and she became dissatisfied. 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. [4][5][6] Her father, Michael Cochran, born about 1810, started out as a laborer and mill worker before buying the local mill and most of the land surrounding his family farmhouse. Articles from Britannica Encyclopedias for elementary and high school students. [53] In 2019, the Center for Investigative Reporting released Nellie Bly Makes the News, a short animated biographical film. Following her marriage, she retired from journalism and became the president of her husband's Iron Clad Manufacturing Company. During her early journalism career, Bly wrote Six Months in Mexico (1888), which describes her time as a foreign correspondent in Mexico in 1885. Bly's expos, published in the World soon after her return to reality, was a massive success. Goodman, Matthew. Abrams is now one of the most prominent African American female politicians in the United States. Nellie Bly PBS: American Experience, Accessed 23 March 23, 2017 http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/world/peopleevents/pande01.html, Life Story: Elizabeth Cochrane, aka Nellie Bly (1864-1922), Women & The American Story, New-York Historical Society Library and Museum, https://wams.nyhistory.org/modernizing-america/modern-womanhood/nellie-bly/. Nellie Bly, was one of fourteen siblings growing up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. [37], She ran her company as a model of social welfare, replete with health benefits and recreational facilities. Seaman died in 1904. Elizabeth Jane Cochran was born on May 5, 1864 in Cochran's Mill, Pennsylvania (now Burrell Township), and during her youth, she had the nickname, "Pinky" (wore pink a lot). How many siblings did August Wilson have? How many siblings did Benazir Bhutto have? Baker's career as an actress took place from 1921-1934 and she performed in 13 films. In 1888, inspired by Jules Vernes 1873 novel Around the World in Eighty Days, Bly aimed to turn the fictional tale into reality. In 1887 Cochrane left Pittsburgh for New York City and went to work for Joseph Pulitzers New York World. [49], During the 1990s, playwright Lynn Schrichte wrote and toured Did You Lie, Nellie Bly?, a one-woman show about Bly. The town was founded by her father, Michael Cochran, who provided for his family by working as a judge and landowner. Blys successful career reached new heights in 1889 when she decided to travel around the world after reading the popular book by Jules Verne, Around the World in 80 Days. Also around this time, she retired from journalism, and by all accounts, the couple enjoyed a happy marriage. Bly switched back to reporting, later on writing stories on Europe's Eastern Front during World War I and the Woman Suffrage Parade of 1913. 1985.212. However, after only a year and a half, Elizabeth ran out of money and could no longer afford the tuition. How many siblings did Shirley Chisholm have? How many siblings does Katherine Johnson have? She also interviewed and wrote pieces on several prominent figures of the time, including Emma Goldman and Susan B. Anthony. Elizabeth Bisland Wetmore (February 11, 1861 - January 6, 1929) was an American journalist and author, perhaps now best known for her 1889-1890 race around the world against Nellie Bly, which drew worldwide attention. She completed circumnavigating the world in just 72 days and recorded her travel experiences in a book titled Around the World in 72 Days. no. Early in life, she was compelled to speak truth to power when she testified on her mother's behalf against an abusive stepfather. Now Nellie Bly is getting her due., Eighty Days: Nellie Bly and Elizabeth Bisland's History-Making Race Around the World. The most famous of Elizabeths stunts was her successful seventy-two-day trip around the world in 1889, for which she had two goals. Full_Name: Elizabeth Jane Cochran. How many blood siblings did Queen Isabella have? Michael Cochrans rise from mill worker to mill owner to judge meant his family lived very comfortably. At New York, she soon found herself a job at Joseph Pulitzers newspaper, New York World. One of her early assignments was to investigate reports of brutality and neglect at the Women's Lunatic Asylum on Blackwell's Island. While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. In a tribute after her death, the acclaimed newspaper editor Arthur Brisbane remembered Bly as the best reporter in America., Kroeger, Brooke. The New York World published daily updates on her journey and the entire country followed her story. Best Known For: Nellie Bly was known for her pioneering journalism, including her 1887 expos on the conditions of asylum patients at Blackwell's Island in New York City and her report of her. She is often confused with the journalist Nellie Bly (1864-1922). Elizabeth hoped the massive newspaper industry of New York City would be more open-minded to a female journalist and left Pittsburgh. She left the newspaper industry after her marriage to serve as the president of her husbands company, Iron Clad Manufacturing Co. As a social reformer she gave over-the-top perks to her employees but the scheme cost the company so dearly that it went bankrupt.