Nellie lived on a big farm with her parents Michael Cochran and Mary Kane and her siblings. Elizabeth Bisland - Wikipedia 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. 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. Popularly known by her pen name Nellie Bly, Elizabeth Cochran was an American journalist and writer who was a pioneer in the field of investigative journalism. The high point of Cochranes career at the World began on November 14, 1889, when she sailed from New York to beat the record of Phileas Fogg, hero of Jules Vernes romance Around the World in Eighty Days. In 1880, the family moved to Pittsburgh where Elizabeth supported her single mother by running a boarding house. As she became a teenager, she wanted to portray herself as more sophisticated, and she dropped the nickname and changed her surname to "Cochrane". 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. Nellie Bly was born Elizabeth Jane Cochran on May 5, 1864 in Cochrans Mill, Pennsylvania. In it, she explores the country's people and customs, and even stumbles upon marijuana. The editor chose "Nellie Bly", after the African-American title character in the popular song "Nelly Bly" by Stephen Foster. Elizabeths boss did not want to anger Pittsburghs elite and quickly reassigned her as a society columnist. Nellie's father was a successful businessman and a good parent to Nellie and her four siblings. One of her first undertakings for that paper was to get herself committed to the asylum on Blackwells (now Roosevelt) Island by feigning insanity. How many sisters did Charles Dickens have? Gertrude Kasebier, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution. 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. Bernard, Karen. [15] In one report, she protested the imprisonment of a local journalist for criticizing the Mexican government, then a dictatorship under Porfirio Daz. How many siblings did Emily Dickinson have? 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 . [1] She was a pioneer in her field and launched a new kind of investigative journalism. Biography and associated logos are trademarks of A+E Networksprotected in the US and other countries around the globe. The World built up the story by running daily articles and a guessing contest in which whoever came nearest to naming Cochranes time in circling the globe would get a trip to Europe. She breathed her last on January 27, 1922 at St. Mark's Hospital in New York City due to pneumonia. But her negligence, and embezzlement by a factory manager, resulted in the Iron Clad Manufacturing Co. going bankrupt. "Nellie Bly." Get a Britannica Premium subscription and gain access to exclusive content. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions. Although Elizabeth never regained the level of stardom she experienced after her trip around the world, she continued to use her writing to shed light on issues of the day. [69], The board game Round the World with Nellie Bly created in 1890 is named in recognition of her trip. 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. 10 Days in a Madhouse (2015) - IMDb "Bly, Nellie (1864-1922), reporter and manufacturer." 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. She met Jules Verne at his home in France. She lived there as an international correspondent for the Dispatch for six months. 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. 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. One can only speculate what further triumphs and good deeds this remarkable woman might have achieved if only she lived a few years longer. 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. She was a pioneer in investigative journalism. Nellie Bly biography for kids - Lottie.com Her work, which was later reprinted as a book titled Ten Days in a Mad House spurred a large-scale investigation of the institution as well as the much-needed improvements in health care. Following her marriage, she retired from journalism and became the president of her husbands Iron Clad Manufacturing Company. She also interviewed and wrote pieces on several prominent figures of the time, including Emma Goldman and Susan B. Anthony. 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). 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. Elizabeths writing career started abruptly and unintentionally. When Robert died in 1904, Elizabeth briefly took over as president of his companies. Unable to maintain the land or their house, Bly's family left Cochran's Mill. NASA on The Commons, via flickr, Home / Modernizing America, 1889-1920 / Modern Womanhood / Life Story: Nellie Bly. The story of an investigative journalist who used her career to shed light on the horrors of urban life and break gender stereotypes. READ MORE: Inside Nellie Blys 10 Days in a Madhouse. While in charge of the company, Bly put her social reforms into action and Iron Clad employees enjoyed several perks unheard of at the time, including fitness gyms, libraries and healthcare. How many siblings did Zora Neale Hurston have? The young, intrepid reporter who graced the pages of the New York World at the end of the 19th century led a busy life. Escaping the Madhouse: The Nellie Bly Story (TV Movie 2019) - IMDb Her mother was from a wealthy Pittsburgh family. This is a short thirty-minute lesson on Frances Ellen Watkins Harper. Elizabeth too began writing under the pen name Nellie Bly after the Stephen Foster song. Unscrupulous employees bilked the firm of hundreds of thousands of dollars, troubles compounded by protracted and costly bankruptcy litigation. How many brothers and sisters did Theodore Roosevelt have? Her image was used on everything from playing cards to board games. In 1887, Bly stormed into the office of the, Blys six-part series on her experience in the asylum was called. http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/bly/madhouse/madhouse.html, Janet Yellen: The Progress of Women and Minorities in the Field of Economics, Elinor Lin Ostrom, Nobel Prize Economist, Chronicles of American Women: Your History Makers, Women Writing History: A Coronavirus Journaling Project, We Who Believe in Freedom: Black Feminist DC, Learning Resources on Women's Political Participation, https://doi.org/10.1093/anb/9780198606697.article.1601472, https://wams.nyhistory.org/modernizing-america/modern-womanhood/nellie-bly/, www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/nellie-bly, https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2019/07/28/she-went-undercover-expose-an-insane-asylums-horrors-now-nellie-bly-is-getting-her-due/, https://www.heinzhistorycenter.org/learn/women-forging-way/nellie-bly-around-the-world. Cochrane rode on ships and trains, in rickshaws and sampans, on horses and burros. Her honest reporting about the horrors of workers lives attracted negative attention from local factory owners. She was inducted as a part of the expert team launched to better the conditions prevailing at the asylum. Nellie Bly | National Women's History Museum Nellie Bly Baker - Wikipedia [15] "Mad Marriages" was published under the byline of Nellie Bly, rather than "Lonely Orphan Girl". "Nellie Bly." Freedom Forum: "Nellie Bly's Forgotten Sisters" - Brooke Kroeger Religious Experience and Journal of Mrs. Jarena Lee: giving an account of her call to preach the gospel, frontispiece. Nellie Bly | National Women's History Museum Brief Life History of Jonathan J How many siblings did Patricia Bath have? Between 1889 and 1895, Nellie Bly also penned twelve novels for The New York Family Story Paper. Nellie Bly was born on May 5, 1864 in Cochran Mill, Pennsylvania. American investigative journalist (18641922), Elizabeth Cochran, "Nellie Bly," aged about 26. [66] David Blixt also appeared on a March 10, 2021 episode of the podcast Broads You Should Know as a Nellie Bly expert. ", Lutes, Jean Marie. Bly continued to produce regular exposs on New Yorks ills, such as corruption in the state legislature, unscrupulous employment agencies for domestic workers, and the black market for buying infants. How many siblings did Shirley Chisholm have? The editor, Joseph Pulitzer, declined that story, but he challenged Bly to investigate one of New Yorks most notorious mental asylums, Blackwells Island. 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 .