05/16/2023
Nellie Bly, trailblazing investigative journalist and adventurer extraordinaire, was born on this day in 1864. One of the earliest muckraking journalists, Bly was famous for her undercover investigative reports on corruption and social injustices, as well as for her record-setting around the world trip in the style of Jules Verne's "Around the World in 80 Days."
Born Elizabeth Jane Cochrane near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 1864, she adopted the name "Nellie Bly" as a pen name after a fierce rebuttal to a misogynistic newspaper article (where working women were called "a monstrosity") impressed the editor and resulted in a job offer for Bly at the Pittsburgh Dispatch. Her early work often focused on working women, including a series on female factory workers. She also spent six months as a foreign correspondent in Mexico but left the country after being threatened with arrest for criticizing the Porfirio DÃaz regime.
Seeking new challenges, Bly went to New York in 1887 and took an undercover assignment for the New York World where she feigned insanity to get herself committed to the New York City Lunatic Asylum on Blackwell's Island. Her work pioneered the realm of undercover journalism after she wrote an exposé on the horrific conditions and mistreatment of patients she found there. Bly's series of articles led to a grand jury investigation and, subsequently, to improved care for the patients and increased funding for the care of people with mental illness.
Bly's undercover investigation made her famous and her fame continued when in 1889 she took on the assignment of replicating the fictional "Around the World in Eighty Days" voyage. The 24,899-mile journey attracted much media attention and public interest. Her travels, completed largely via steamship and railroad, took seventy-two days, six hours, eleven minutes, and fourteen seconds -- setting a world record.
Bly went on to become the president of her husband's iron manufacturing company, receive several different patents for inventions (under her married name of Elizabeth Cochrane Seaman), and work towards the improvement of orphanages, as well as further journalism assignments. In 1998, she was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame.
Nellie Bly's famous investigative series has been complied into the autobiographical book, "Ten Days in a Mad-House," which is still in print and available at http://amzn.to/1lS5at6
To introduce children to this trailblazer, we highly recommend "The Daring Nellie Bly" for ages 5 to 8 (https://www.amightygirl.com/the-daring-nellie-bly), "She Persisted: Nellie Bly" for ages 6 to 9 (https://www.amightygirl.com/she-persisted-nellie-bly), "Who Was Nellie Bly?" for ages 8 to 12 (https://www.amightygirl.com/who-was-nellie-bly)
For older kids, we also recommend "Nellie Bly and Investigative Journalism for Kids: Mighty Muckrakers from the Golden Age to Today, with 21 Activities" for ages 9 and up at https://www.amightygirl.com/nellie-bly-investigative
There is also an excellent picture book about Nellie Bly's historic journey around the world: "A Race Around the World" for ages 5 to 9 at https://www.amightygirl.com/a-race-around-the-world
For adult readers, there is also a powerful book about one woman's courageous fight against laws that allowed men to commit their wives to insane asylums - without any legal hearing or mental health diagnosis required - "The Woman They Could Not Silence" is available at https://www.amightygirl.com/woman-they-could-not-silence
