Born In: Cochrans Mills, Pennsylvania, United States. Biography and associated logos are trademarks of A+E Networksprotected in the US and other countries around the globe. [66] David Blixt also appeared on a March 10, 2021 episode of the podcast Broads You Should Know as a Nellie Bly expert. How many siblings did St. Catherine of Siena have? 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. [14] Her second article, "Mad Marriages", was about how divorce affected women. How many siblings did Amy Carmichael have? Michael married twice. 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. At the age of 30, Bly married millionaire Robert Seamen and retired from journalism. Robert was a millionaire who owned the Iron Clad Manufacturing Company and the American Steel Barrel Company. She went undercover to expose an insane asylums horrors. She was 57 years old. 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. She completed the trip in 72 days, 6 hours, 11 minutes and 14 secondssetting a real-world record, despite her fictional inspiration for the undertaking. To escape writing about womens issues on the society page, Elizabeth volunteered to travel to Mexico. Nicols Enrquez de Vargas (artist), Portrait of Sor Juana Ins de la Cruz, ca. on New Yorks ills, such as corruption in the state legislature, unscrupulous employment agencies for domestic workers, and the black market for buying infants. 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. [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]. A young journalist looks behind the curtain of a nearby mental hospital, only to uncover the grim and gruesome acts they bestow upon their "patients". [1] [2] How many blood siblings did Queen Isabella have? How many siblings did Shirley Chisholm have? New-York Historical Society Library. Elizabeth Cochran (she later added a final e to Cochran) received scant formal schooling. All rights reserved. Between 1889 and 1895 she wrote eleven novels. [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. Well never share your email with anyone else, 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, Bly looked for work to help support her family, but found fewer opportunities than her less-educated brothers. How many siblings did Frances Hodgson Burnett have? Her plan was to graduate and find a position as a teacher. Ten Days in the Madhouse. In 1880, the family moved to Pittsburgh where Elizabeth supported her single mother by running a boarding house. Portrait of Nellie Bly. Bly's future began to look brighter in the early 1880s, when, at the age of 18, she submitted a racy response to an editorial piece that had been published in the Pittsburgh Dispatch. She began working for the New York Evening Journal in 1920 and reported on numerous events, including the growing womens suffrage movement. How might Elizabeths position as a woman have helped her investigative reporting? In a tribute after her death, the acclaimed newspaper editor Arthur Brisbane remembered Bly as the best reporter in America., Kroeger, Brooke. [50], Bly has been portrayed in the films The Adventures of Nellie Bly (1981),[51] 10 Days in a Madhouse (2015),[52] and Escaping the Madhouse: The Nellie Bly Story (2019). She moved back to Pittsburgh to help her mother run a boarding house. Upon her husbands death in 1904, Bly took the helm of his Iron Clad Manufacturing Co. During her time there, she began manufacturing the first practical 55-gallon steel oil drum, which evolved into the standard one used today. One can only speculate what further triumphs and good deeds this remarkable woman might have achieved if only she lived a few years longer. 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. Elizabeth knew that she would need to support herself financially. During her early journalism career, Bly wrote Six Months in Mexico (1888), which describes her time as a foreign correspondent in Mexico in 1885. Alternate titles: Elizabeth Cochran, Elizabeth Cochrane. Died: January 27, 1922, New York City, NY. Nellie Bly was born on May 5, 1864 (age 57) in Burrell, Pennsylvania, United States She is a celebrity journalist She also interviewed and wrote pieces on several prominent figures of the time, including Emma Goldman and Susan B. Anthony. [26], Back in reporting, she covered the Woman Suffrage Procession of 1913 for the New York Evening Journal. To what extent did Elizabeths trip around the world redefine ideas of what it meant to be a woman? Here are 10 facts about Nellie Bly. Her father had ten children from his first marriage and five children from his second marriage to Elizabeths mother, Mary Jane Kennedy. [41], In 1998, Bly was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame. 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 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. Escaping the Madhouse: The Nellie Bly Story: Directed by Karen Moncrieff. National Women's History Museum. How many siblings did Rosalind Franklin have? How many siblings did Marie Antoinette have? "Bly, Nellie (1864-1922), reporter and manufacturer. 1985.212. New-York Historical Society. [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]. [38], Bly wrote stories on Europe's Eastern Front during World War I. [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. 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. She also covered major stories like the march of Jacob Coxeys Army on Washington, D.C. and the Pullman strike in Chicago, both of which were 1894 protests in favor of workers rights. For ten days Elizabeth experienced the physical and mental abuses suffered by patients. How many siblings did Elizabeth Blackwell have? Elizabeth traveled light, taking only the dress she wore, a cape, and a small travelers bag. 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. Faced with such dwindling finances, Bly consequently re-entered the newspaper industry. When she returned, she was again assigned to the society page and promptly quit in protest. The Historic New Orleans Collection, acc. He later became a merchant, postmaster, and associate justice at Cochran's Mills (which was named after him) in Pennsylvania. 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 students will discuss diversity within the economics profession and in the federal government, and the functions of the Federal Reserve System and U. S. monetary policy, by reviewing a historic timeline and analyzing the acts of Janet Yellen. Born Elizabeth Jane Cochran, Nellie Bly was famed for pioneering new investigative journalism when she worked as an undercover journalist in New York's most notorious mental institution. Chapultepec Castle, Mexico City. [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. Her trip around the world in 72 days brought her even further fame. With an attempt to break the faux record of the character of Phileas Fogg, Bly began her 24, 899 mile journey on November 14, 1889, boarding the Augusta Victoria. Although several newspapers turned down her application because she was a woman, she was eventually given the opportunity to write for Joseph Pulitzers New York World. 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. Abigail Adams was an early advocate for women's rights. Your Privacy Choices: Opt Out of Sale/Targeted Ads, Name: Nellie Bly, Birth Year: 1864, Birth date: May 5, 1864, Birth State: Pennsylvania, Birth City: Cochran's Mills, Birth Country: United States. 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. Brief Life History of Jonathan J She died of pneumonia on January 27, 1922. There were nearly one million entries in the contest. Taking on the pen name by which she's best known, after a Stephen Foster song, she sought to highlight the negative consequences of sexist ideologies and the importance of women's rights issues. This lesson will teach you about Nellie Bly, her adventures, her inventions, and why she wrote under a fake name! 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 1895, Bly married millionaire industrialist Robert Seaman, who was 40 years her senior, and she became legally known as Elizabeth Jane Cochrane Seaman. 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. How many sisters did Martha Washington have? Nellie Bly: Around the World in 72 Days. Senator John Heinz History Center. Nellie was born on May 5, 1864 in a city called Cochran's Millis in the United States. It was initially published as a series of articles for the New York World. 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. Read free previews and reviews from booklovers. Nellie Blys first major work as a reporter was when she did the asylum expose for New York World. Her work Ten Days in a Mad House was a phenomenal success and won her great acclaim. Answer and Explanation: Nellie Bly had 14 siblings (10 half-siblings; 4 full blooded siblings). When Bly was six, her father died suddenly and without a will. How many siblings did Emmeline Pankhurst have? Elizabeth positioned herself as an investigative reporter. [citation needed] The character of Lana Winters (Sarah Paulson) in American Horror Story: Asylum is inspired by Bly's experience in the asylum. She wasn't the first woman of her time to join a newsroom, but she was certainly the most. The articles were subsequently collected in Six Months in Mexico (1888). How many siblings did Warren G. Harding have? episode "Jack's Back". "Pink," as she was known in childhood, was the youngest of 13 (or 15, according . Unknown photographer, A Typical Boomer Family, ca. Born Elizabeth Cochran Seaman, Nellie Bly grew up in Pennsylvania in an area that is now a suburb of Pittsburgh. Journalist Nellie Bly began writing for the Pittsburgh Dispatch in 1885. Collection of the New-York Historical Society. One of her first undertakings for that paper was to get herself committed to the asylum on Blackwells (now Roosevelt) Island by feigning insanity. Lib. 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. The newspapers editor, George A. Madden, was so impressed with the letter that he published a note asking the Lonely Orphan Girl to reveal her name. How many siblings did August Wilson have? Corrections? Hearst Magazine Media, Inc. Site contains certain content that is owned A&E Television Networks, LLC. Furthermore, her hands-on approach to reporting developed into a practice now called investigative journalism. The newspapers editor, George Madden, saw potential in her piece and invited her to work for the Dispatch as a reporter. Activist journalists like Elizabethcommonly known as muckrakerswere an important part of reform movements. 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. Elizabeth Jane Cochran, a.k.a. Young Elizabeth attended boarding school but just for a term before dropping out due to insufficient funds. Michael Cochran began his career in the mills outside Pittsburgh, until he was able to earn enough to buy the mill. All Rights Reserved. For a time, she was one of the leading women industrialists in the United States. Michael had 10 children with his first wife and five more with Mary Jane, who had no prior children. ", Lutes, Jean Marie. 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.
nellie bly siblings