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. She completed the trip in 72 days, 6 hours, 11 minutes and 14 seconds, setting a new world record. Nellie was born on May 5, 1864 in a city called Cochran's Millis in the United States. 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. Her mother remarried but divorced in 1878 due to abuse. 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. Sherwood, D., Gabriel, R., Brescovit, A. D. & Lucas, S. M. (2022). Shortly after her first article was published, Elizabeth changed her pseudonym from Lonely Orphan Girl to Nellie Bly, after a popular song. In 1895, Bly married millionaire manufacturer Robert Seaman. [40], On January 27, 1922, Bly died of pneumonia at St. Mark's Hospital, New York City, aged 57. How many siblings did Louisa May Alcott have? The column, which appeared in The Dispatch on February 1, 1885, was bylined "Nellie Bly.". 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. Cihak and Zima (photographer), Ida B. Wells-Barnett, ca. Nellie (her pen name) is the best known of these children, and there is not much information about her 14 siblings. The Sibling Society The Sibling Society Reconsidering the Siblings, a Critical Study of Robert Bly's The Sibling Society The Sibling Society Mirabai Iron John Leaping Poetry A Little Book on the Human Shadow Morning Poems The Teeth-Mother Naked at Last Growing Yourself Back Up Talking Into the . How many siblings did Coretta Scott King have? The editor, Joseph Pulitzer, declined that story, but he challenged Bly to investigate one of New Yorks most notorious mental asylums, Blackwells Island. How many siblings did Florence Nightingale have? In 1888, inspired by Jules Vernes 1873 novel Around the World in Eighty Days, Bly aimed to turn the fictional tale into reality. Pace, Lawson. [15] "Mad Marriages" was published under the byline of Nellie Bly, rather than "Lonely Orphan Girl". The young, intrepid reporter who graced the pages of the New York World at the end of the 19th century led a busy life. She stayed up all night to give herself the wide-eyed look of a disturbed woman and began making accusations that the other boarders were insane. Bly, Nellie. How many siblings did Emily Dickinson have? This article was most recently revised and updated by, 8 of Nellie Bly's Most Sensational Stories. [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]. We may earn commission from links on this page, but we only recommend products we back. She also prioritized the welfare of the employees, providing health care benefits and recreational facilities. In a tribute after her death, the acclaimed newspaper editor Arthur Brisbane remembered Bly as the best reporter in America., Kroeger, Brooke. National Women's History Museum, 2022. [55], Anne Helm appeared as Nellie Bly in the November 21, 1960, Tales of Wells Fargo TV episode "The Killing of Johnny Lash". When Bly was six, her father died suddenly and without a will. How many brothers and sisters did Theodore Roosevelt have? In 1887 Cochrane left Pittsburgh for New York City and went to work for Joseph Pulitzers New York World. June 7, 1999. The newspapers editor, George Madden, saw potential in her piece and invited her to work for the Dispatch as a reporter. In 1880, the family moved to Pittsburgh where Elizabeth supported her single mother by running a boarding house. Oil on canvas. Hearst Magazine Media, Inc. Site contains certain content that is owned A&E Television Networks, LLC. What was nellie blys favorite color? To escape writing about womens issues on the society page, Elizabeth volunteered to travel to Mexico. How many siblings did Zora Neale Hurston have? 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. Her sharply critical articles angered Mexican officials and caused her expulsion from the country. Elizabeth knew that she would need to support herself financially. It was no mere armchair observation, because Bly got herself committed . During World War I, she traveled to Europe as the first woman to report from the trenches on the front line. [20] Penniless after four months, she talked her way into the offices of Joseph Pulitzer's newspaper the New York World and took an undercover assignment for which she agreed to feign insanity to investigate reports of brutality and neglect at the Women's Lunatic Asylum on Blackwell's Island, now named Roosevelt Island. [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 breathed her last on January 27, 1922 at St. Mark's Hospital in New York City due to pneumonia. [21], It was not easy for Bly to be admitted to the Asylum: she first decided to check herself into a boarding house called "Temporary Homes for Females". 2022. How many siblings does Katherine Johnson have? "Nellie Bly." 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. For a time, she was one of the leading women industrialists in the United States. 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. In 1911, she returned to journalism as a reporter for the New York Evening Journal. Get a Britannica Premium subscription and gain access to exclusive content. How many siblings did Benazir Bhutto 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. Nellie Bly Wikipedia. National Women's History Museum. When Bly was six, her father died suddenly and without a will. [26] She was interred at Woodlawn Cemetery in The Bronx, New York City. Ten Days in a Mad-House - Wikipedia As she became a teenager, she wanted to portray herself as more sophisticated, and she dropped the nickname and changed her surname to "Cochrane". How many siblings did Anne Sullivan have? 2022. www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/nellie-bly. In early 2019, Lifetime released a thriller based on Bly's experience as an undercover reporter in a women's mental ward. Her father had ten children from his first marriage and five children from his second marriage to Elizabeths mother, Mary Jane Kennedy. How many siblings did Frances Hodgson Burnett have? Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Just two years after reviving her writing career, on January 27, 1922, Bly died from pneumonia in New York City. She met Jules Verne at his home in France. 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.. How many siblings did Nellie Bly have? | Homework.Study.com How many siblings did Susan B. Anthony have? Jonathan J Chandler (1848-1903) FamilySearch It was for the Dispatch that she began using the pen name Nellie Bly, borrowed from a popular Stephen Foster song. Abrams is now one of the most prominent African American female politicians in the United States. How many siblings did Catherine of Aragon have? 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. Born in 1864, Bly was the thirteenth of 15 children in a family headed by Michael Cochran, a mill owner and county judge. And much of this has to do with her firsthand account of life in an insane asylum. Now Nellie Bly is getting her due. The Washington Post. Toshiko Akiyoshi changed the face of jazz music over her sixty-year career. In response to an article in the. 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. Nellie Bly: The Journalist Who Pretended To Be Insane To Get Into A 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/. Christina Ricci starred as Bly and Transparent's Judith Light played the role of the head nurse. Promenading with Lunatics: Nellie Bly's Brave Undercover - Medium Biography and associated logos are trademarks of A+E Networksprotected in the US and other countries around the globe. 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). 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 children did Abigail Adams 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. She went undercover at a factory where she experienced unsafe working conditions, poor wages, and long hours. During her travels around the world, she went through England, France, Brindisi, the Suez Canal, Colombo, the Straits Settlements of Penang and Singapore, Hong Kong, and Japan. 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. In her first act of stunt journalism for the World, Elizabeth pretended to be mentally ill and arranged to be a patient at New Yorks insane asylum for the poor, Blackwells Island. Nellie Bly biography for kids - Lottie.com She had several siblings and half-siblings. [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. Robert was a millionaire who owned the Iron Clad Manufacturing Company and the American Steel Barrel Company. "Pink," as she was known in childhood, was the youngest of 13 (or 15, according . Her trip only took 72 days, which set a world record. Nellie Bly, c. 1890. [34] Due to her husband's failing health, she left journalism and succeeded her husband as head of the Iron Clad Manufacturing Co., which made steel containers such as milk cans and boilers. How might Elizabeths position as a woman have helped her investigative reporting? Before becoming an investigative journalist and travelling around the world in 72 days, Nellie Bly had a childhood. 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. Born Elizabeth Cochran Seaman, Nellie Bly grew up in Pennsylvania in an area that is now a suburb of Pittsburgh. [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. In 188687 she traveled for several months through Mexico, sending back reports on official corruption and the condition of the poor. [68], Bly is one of 100 women featured in the first version of the book Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls written by Elena Favilli & Francesca Cavallo. In 1880, her mother moved the family to Pittsburg, and Nellie Bly caught the eye of "The Pittsburg Dispatch" editor George Madden, when she wrote a response to the article "What Girls Are Good For." Bly later compiled the articles into a book, being published by Ian L. Munro in New York City in 1887. Bly died of pneumonia at the age of 57 in 1922. How many siblings did Queen Victoria have? Nellie Bly: Around the World in 72 Days. Senator John Heinz History Center. Religious Experience and Journal of Mrs. Jarena Lee: giving an account of her call to preach the gospel, frontispiece. 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.