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 was the most famous American woman reporter of the 19th century. The marriage was the second one for both Michael and Bly's mother, Mary Jane, who wed after the deaths of their first spouses. For a time, she was one of the leading women industrialists in the United States. Bly looked for work to help support her family, but found fewer opportunities than her less-educated brothers. Women in Art and Literature: Who Said It? Chicago- Norwood, Arlisha and Mariana Brandman. Bolstered by continuous coverage in the World, Bly earned international stardom for her months-long stunt, and her fame continued to grow after she safely returned to her native state and her record-setting achievement was announced. Nellie Bly left New York for France on November 14, 1889. [20], In 1893, Bly used the celebrity status she had gained from her asylum reporting skills to schedule an exclusive interview with the allegedly insane serial killer Lizzie Halliday.[25]. Nellie Bly was a nationally significant journalist at the New York World. She met Jules Verne at his home in France. After her ten-days-in-a-madhouse stunt and her circumnavigation of the globefeats that would make her a household nameshe went on to do many other things. How many sisters did Charles Dickens have? Nellie Bly Wikipedia. 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 72-day trip around the world. How many siblings did James Meredith have? How many brothers and sisters did Theodore Roosevelt have? Cochran's Mills, Armstrong County, Pennsylvania, Burrell Township, Armstrong County, Pennsylvania, Escaping the Madhouse: The Nellie Bly Story, An American Tail: The Mystery of the Night Monster, "She went undercover to expose an insane asylum's horrors. [19] When Mexican authorities learned of Bly's report, they threatened her with arrest, prompting her to flee the country. How many siblings did Rachel Carson have? [2], Elizabeth Jane Cochran was born May 5, 1864,[3] in "Cochran's Mills", now part of Burrell Township, Armstrong County, Pennsylvania. How many siblings did Coretta Scott King have? Nellie Bly married manufacturer Robert Seaman in 1895. Ten Days in the Madhouse. A Celebration of Women Writers. 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. National Women's History Museum, 2022. How many siblings did Elizabeth Blackwell have? She went undercover to expose an insane asylums horrors. Gertrude Kasebier, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution. She is also well-known for making a trip around the world for a record 72 days, beating a fictitious record that had been set by . Nellie Bly Baker (September 7, 1893 - October 12, 1984) was an American actress active in the silent film era and early talkies, mostly playing minor roles. Michael Cochran began his career in the mills outside Pittsburgh, until he was able to earn enough to buy the mill. How many siblings did Frances Hodgson Burnett have? Seaman died in 1904, and Bly took over his firm, the Iron Clad Manufacturing Company. Elizabeth marched into the Dispatch offices and introduced herself. [7] Michael Cochran died in 1870, when Elizabeth was 6. https://www.heinzhistorycenter.org/learn/women-forging-way/nellie-bly-around-the-world, Ten Days in the Madhouse. A Celebration of Women Writers. She faced rejection after rejection as news editors would not consider hiring a woman. Elizabeth Jane Cochran, a.k.a. Nellie's father was a successful businessman and a good parent to Nellie and her four siblings. After the fanfare of her trip around the world, Bly quit reporting and took a lucrative job writing serial novels for publisher Norman Munro's weekly New York Family Story Paper. 1893-1894. Ultimately, the costs of these benefits began to mount and drain her inheritance. How many siblings did Althea Gibson have? How many siblings did Elizabeth Schuyler Hamilton have? On May 5, 2015, the Google search engine produced an interactive "Google Doodle" for Bly; for the "Google Doodle" Karen O wrote, composed, and recorded an original song about Bly, and Katy Wu created an animation set to Karen O's music. How many siblings did Mary Todd Lincoln have? He had 10 children with his first wife, Catherine Murphy, and 5 more children, including Elizabeth Cochran his thirteenth daughter, with his second wife, Mary Jane Kennedy. What might she have been able to do that men could not? How many siblings did Emmeline Pankhurst have? Nellie Bly: Around the World in 72 Days. Senator John Heinz History Center. 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. She completed circumnavigating the world in just 72 days and recorded her travel experiences in a book titled Around the World in 72 Days. On train, ship, rickshaw, horse, and donkey . This lesson will teach you about Nellie Bly, her adventures, her inventions, and why she wrote under a fake name! [54] A fictionalized version of Bly as a mouse named Nellie Brie appears as a central character in the animated children's film An American Tail: The Mystery of the Night Monster. Given the green light to try the feat by the New York World, Bly embarked on her journey from Hoboken, New Jersey, in November 1889, traveling first by ship and later also via horse, rickshaw, sampan, burro and other vehicles. Bly not only accepted the challenge, she decided to feign mental illness to gain admission and expose firsthand how patients were treated. 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. The articles were subsequently collected in Six Months in Mexico (1888). Astronaut Ellen Ochoa, mission specialist, carries her son Wilson Miles-Ochoa following the STS-96 crew return at Ellington Field. Kroeger, Brooke. How many siblings did Marie Antoinette have? [69], The board game Round the World with Nellie Bly created in 1890 is named in recognition of her trip. [citation needed] The character of Lana Winters (Sarah Paulson) in American Horror Story: Asylum is inspired by Bly's experience in the asylum. Safely home, she accused Daz of being a tyrannical czar suppressing the Mexican people and controlling the press. How many siblings did Queen Liliuokalani have? At 15, Bly enrolled at the State Normal School in Indiana, Pennsylvania. The Historic New Orleans Collection, acc. of Congress. "[18] She then traveled to Mexico to serve as a foreign correspondent, spending nearly half a year reporting on the lives and customs of the Mexican people; her dispatches later were published in book form as Six Months in Mexico. 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). 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. Elizabeths boss did not want to anger Pittsburghs elite and quickly reassigned her as a society columnist. Also around this time, she retired from journalism, and by all accounts, the couple enjoyed a happy marriage. [11], As a writer, Nellie Bly focused her early work for the Pittsburgh Dispatch on the lives of working women, writing a series of investigative articles on women factory workers. To what extent did Elizabeths trip around the world redefine ideas of what it meant to be a woman? https://www.britannica.com/biography/Nellie-Bly, Spartacus Educational - Biography of Nellie Bly, Social Welfare History Project - Biography of Nellie Bly, The MY HERO Project - Biography of Nellie Bly, National Women's History Museum - Biography of Nellie Bly, Nellie Bly - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up), Nellie Blys Book: Around the World in Seventy-two Days. Died: January 27, 1922, New York City, NY. Nellie Bly, was one of fourteen siblings growing up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. [29][30] During her travels around the world, Bly went through England, France (where she met Jules Verne in Amiens), Brindisi, the Suez Canal, Colombo (in Ceylon), the Straits Settlements of Penang and Singapore, Hong Kong, and Japan. The story of an investigative journalist who used her career to shed light on the horrors of urban life and break gender stereotypes. Early in life, she was compelled to speak truth to power when she testified on her mother's behalf against an abusive stepfather. Madden immediately offered her a job as a columnist. For the first 20 or so years of her life, Nellie Bly was known not as Nellie, nor as Elizabeth Jane Cochran, which was her birth name, but as "Pink," due to her fondness for the color, according to New World Encyclopedia. [56], Bly was also a subject of Season 2 Episode 5 of The West Wing in which First Lady Abbey Bartlet dedicates a memorial in Pennsylvania in honor of Nellie Bly and convinces the president to mention her and other female historic figures during his weekly radio address. Chicago- Norwood, Arlisha and Mariana Brandman. At the . But her negligence, and embezzlement by a factory manager, resulted in the Iron Clad Manufacturing Co. going bankrupt. At the age of 30, Bly married millionaire Robert Seamen and retired from journalism. Bly later enrolled at the Indiana Normal School, a small college in Indiana, Pennsylvania, where she studied to become a teacher. "Pink Cochrane" was a great name, but almost every woman journalist writing in the 19th century used a pseudonym. [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. In 1895, Elizabeth retired from writing and married Robert Livingston Seaman. Male 4 November 1848-29 June 1903 LHVT-N79. She died of pneumonia on January 27, 1922. Her expos of conditions among the patients, published in the World and later collected in Ten Days in a Mad House (1887), precipitated a grand-jury investigation of the asylum and helped bring about needed improvements in patient care. no. Here are 10 facts about Nellie Bly. Search results for "The Babysitter Chronicles" at Rakuten Kobo. She was 57 years of age. However, Bly became increasingly limited in her work at the Pittsburgh Dispatch after her editors moved her to its women's page, and she aspired to find a more meaningful career. June 7, 1999. The stunt made her famous. [72], A large species of tarantula from Ecuador, Pamphobeteus nellieblyae Sherwood et al., 2022, was named in her honour by arachnologists.[73]. [67], A fictionalized account of Bly's around-the-world trip was used in the 2010 comic book Julie Walker Is The Phantom published by Moonstone Books (Story: Elizabeth Massie, art: Paul Daly, colors: Stephen Downer). [41], In 1998, Bly was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame. Still only 21, she was determined "to do something no girl has done before. Bly accomplished her goal with days to spare, and, as with her experience in the asylum, her report became a book, Around the World in Seventy-Two Days (1890). Sherwood, D., Gabriel, R., Brescovit, A. D. & Lucas, S. M. (2022). Nellie Bly died of pneumonia when she was 57. [9] In 1879, she enrolled at Indiana Normal School (now Indiana University of Pennsylvania) for one term but was forced to drop out due to lack of funds. Cihak and Zima (photographer), Ida B. Wells-Barnett, ca. 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. Into the Madhouse with Nellie Bly: Girl Stunt Reporting in the Late Nineteenth Century America. American Quarterly, 54 no 2. 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. It was for the Dispatch that she began using the pen name Nellie Bly, borrowed from a popular Stephen Foster song. How many brothers did Susan B. Anthony have? How many siblings did Louisa May Alcott have? 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. But Bly held the record for only a few months before it was broken by businessman George Francis Train who completed the journey in 67 days. 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. Her favorite color is pink. They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors. Nellie Bly, pseudonym of Elizabeth Cochrane, also spelled Cochran, (born May 5, 1864, Cochran's Mills, Pennsylvania, U.S.died January 27, 1922, New York, New York), American journalist whose around-the-world race against a fictional record brought her world renown. Oportunidades Iguales Para Las Mujeres En El Trabajo y La Educaccion, Womens Strike for Equality, New York, Fifth Avenue, 1970, Eugene Gordon photograph collection, 1970-1990. [14] It was customary for women who were newspaper writers at that time to use pen names. [47], The New York Press Club confers an annual Nellie Bly Cub Reporter journalism award to acknowledge the best journalistic effort by an individual with three years or fewer of professional experience. How many siblings does Katherine Johnson have? Bly went on to patent several inventions related to oil manufacturing, many of which are still used today. The piece shed light on a number of disturbing conditions at the facility, including neglect and physical abuse, and, along with spawning her book on the subject, ultimately spurred a large-scale investigation of the institution. Her report was compiled into a book, Ten Days in a Mad-House (1887), and led to lasting institutional reforms. Astrological Sign: Taurus, Death Year: 1922, Death date: January 27, 1922, Death State: New York, Death City: New York, Death Country: United States, Article Title: Nellie Bly Biography, Author: Biography.com Editors, Website Name: The Biography.com website, Url: https://www.biography.com/activist/nellie-bly, Publisher: A&E Television Networks, Last Updated: April 19, 2021, Original Published Date: April 2, 2014. However, not long after beginning her courses there, financial constraints forced Bly to table her hopes for higher education. She began working for the New York Evening Journal in 1920 and reported on numerous events, including the growing womens suffrage movement. How many children did Catherine Parr have? [1] She was a pioneer in her field and launched a new kind of investigative journalism. How might Elizabeths position as a woman have helped her investigative reporting? Unscrupulous employees bilked the firm of hundreds of thousands of dollars, troubles compounded by protracted and costly bankruptcy litigation. 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. How many siblings did Eleanor Roosevelt have? Activist journalists like Elizabethcommonly known as muckrakerswere an important part of reform movements. 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. However, he also misspelled the name, and she became Nellie Bly.. How many siblings did Zora Neale Hurston have?