While still working as a writer, Bly died from pneumonia on January 27, 1922. Elizabeth marched into the Dispatch offices and introduced herself. This lesson will teach you about Nellie Bly, her adventures, her inventions, and why she wrote under a fake name! How many siblings did Sybil Ludington have? Nellie Bly was born Elizabeth Jane Cochran on May 5, 1864 in Cochrans Mill, Pennsylvania. 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. How many brothers and sisters did Amelia Earhart have? His farm, mill, and the surrounding area became known as "Cochran's Mill" (part of a suburb of Pittsburgh). copyright 2003-2023 Homework.Study.com. Lutes, Jean Marie. She recounted her adventures in her final book, Around the World in 72 Days. Engraving. 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. She began working for the New York Evening Journal in 1920 and reported on numerous events, including the growing womens suffrage movement. Jarena Lee, 1849. Bly crafted a fiery rebuttal that grabbed the attention of the paper's managing editor, George Madden, who, in turn, offered her a position. 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. Into the Madhouse with Nellie Bly: Girl Stunt Reporting in the Late Nineteenth Century America., Nellie Bly PBS: American Experience, Accessed 23 March 23, 2017, http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/world/peopleevents/pande01.html. 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. [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. Unfortunately, Bly did not manage the finances well and fell victim to fraud by employees that led the firm to declare bankruptcy. In 1887, Bly stormed into the office of the, Blys six-part series on her experience in the asylum was called. She went undercover to expose an insane asylums horrors. Baker's career as an actress took place from 1921-1934 and she performed in 13 films. Young Elizabeth attended boarding school but just for a term before dropping out due to insufficient funds. In this lesson, students will experience the tragedy of the commons through a team activity in which they compete for resources. "Bly, Nellie (1864-1922), reporter and manufacturer." The New York World completely supported her ambitious feat. Here are 10 facts about Nellie Bly. She often exposed the poor working conditions faced by women. Lib. For the same, she feigned insanity to get into the asylum and have a first-hand experience of the treatment meted out to patients. Brief Life History of Jonathan J How many siblings did Anne Sullivan 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. READ MORE: Inside Nellie Blys 10 Days in a Madhouse. Elizabeth traveled light, taking only the dress she wore, a cape, and a small travelers bag. 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. Collection of the New-York Historical Society. In a tribute after her death, the acclaimed newspaper editor Arthur Brisbane remembered Bly as the best reporter in America., Kroeger, Brooke. She was arrested when she was mistaken for a British spy. Biography and associated logos are trademarks of A+E Networksprotected in the US and other countries around the globe. It was there that she added an e to her last name, becoming Elizabeth Jane Cochrane. 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. Franois (Franz) Fleischbein (artist), Portrait of Betsy, 1837. [74], Cover of the 1890 board game Round the World with Nellie Bly. Pace, Lawson. The story of Nellie Bly, a female journalist who willingly got herself admitted to an insane asylum in 1890s New York so she could write about the experience and expose the injustices. Madden offered her an opportunity to write another column, and after she submitted her column on how divorce affects women, he hired her for the newspaper (giving her the pseudonym Nellie Bly). siblings: Harry Cummings Cochrane. [33] Bly was 31 and Seaman was 73 when they married. Nellie Bly, pseudonym of Elizabeth Cochrane, also spelled Cochran, (born May 5, 1864, Cochrans 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. How many siblings did Dorothy Height have? 10 Days in a Madhouse: Directed by Timothy Hines. Nellie Bly was ousted from Mexico after she ran a series of articles criticizing the Mexican dictator and ruler, Porfirio Diaz. [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 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. In 1904, when her husband died, Bly took over the reign of the company. She lived there as an international correspondent for the Dispatch for six months. 2022. www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/nellie-bly. ACTIVISM AND SOCIAL CHANGE; AMERICAN IDENTITY AND CITIZENSHIP, Major support for Women & the American Story provided by, Lead support for New-York Historicals teacher programs provided by. As few copies of the paper survived, these novels were thought lost until 2021, when author David Blixt announced their discovery, found in Munro's British weekly The London Story Paper. "Pink Cochrane" was a great name, but almost every woman journalist writing in the 19th century used a pseudonym. Nicols Enrquez de Vargas (artist), Portrait of Sor Juana Ins de la Cruz, ca. First, she wanted to beat the record set in the popular fictional world tour from Jules Vernes Around the World in Eighty Days. In 1887, 23-year-old reporter Nellie Bly had herself committed to a New York City asylum to expose the horrific conditions for 19th-century mental patients. Before becoming an investigative journalist and travelling around the world in 72 days,. 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. She breathed her last on January 27, 1922 at St. Mark's Hospital in New York City due to pneumonia. Full_Name: Elizabeth Jane Cochran. Nellie Blys Book: Around the World in Seventy-two Days (1890) was a great popular success, and the name Nellie Bly became a synonym for a female star reporter. [48], Bly was the subject of the 1946 Broadway musical Nellie Bly by Johnny Burke and Jimmy Van Heusen. [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. 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. She used the pen name Nellie Bly, which she took from a well-known song at the time, Nelly Bly. Bly was a popular columnist, but she was limited to writing pieces that only addressed women and soon quit in dissatisfaction. (New York, N.Y.), 14 Nov. 1889. 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. How has Title IX impacted women in education and sports over the last 5 decades? [16] Cochrane originally intended that her pseudonym be "Nelly Bly", but her editor wrote "Nellie" by mistake, and the error stuck. Her father had ten children from his first marriage and five children from his second marriage to Elizabeths mother, Mary Jane Kennedy. How many blood siblings did Queen Isabella have? Nellie Bly, c. 1890. She was six years old when her beloved father died without warning, and without a will, plunging his once wealthy and respected family into poverty and shame. How many siblings did Queen Liliuokalani have? 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. [35], That same year, Iron Clad began manufacturing the steel barrel that was the model for the 55-gallon oil drum still in widespread use in the United States. 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. Following her superlative success with the Blackwell expose, she continued with her investigative series of work, exposing improper treatment in New York jails and factories, corruption in state legislature and so on. How many sisters did Martha Washington have? Combine Elizabeth Cochranes life story with the life stories of, Connect Elizabeth Cochranes work to that of fellow muckraker, Elizabeth Cochrane was one of many Americans who fought to eradicate what she perceived as the evils of modern life. [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]. Her illustrious career also included a headline-making journey around the world, running an oil manufacturing firm, and reporting on World War I from Europe. 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. There have been claims that Bly invented the barrel,[35] but the inventor was registered as Henry Wehrhahn (U.S. Unidentified African American woman in uniform, 1861. New-York Historical Society Library. How many sisters did Ernest Shackleton have? She was far and away the best-known woman journalist of her day. The park reopened in 2007[71] under new management, renamed "Adventurers Amusement Park". She wanted to write a story on the immigrant experience in the United States. [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. [39] Bly was the first woman and one of the first foreigners to visit the war zone between Serbia and Austria. Those words, describing New York City's most notorious mental institution, were written by journalist Nellie Bly in 1887. A progressive social reformer and activist, Jane Addams was on the frontline of the settlement house movement and was the first American woman to wina Nobel Peace Prize. How many siblings did Shirley Chisholm have? How many children did Catherine of Aragon have? With her courageous and bold act, she cemented her legacy as one of the most notable journalists in history.