Nellie's father was a successful businessman and a good parent to Nellie and her four siblings. The town was founded by her father, Judge Michael Cochran. She published her articles in a book titled 10 Days in A Mad House. Chien-shiung Wu (1912-1997), professor of physics at Columbia University, 1963. 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. In 188687 she traveled for several months through Mexico, sending back reports on official corruption and the condition of the poor. How many siblings did Elizabeth Schuyler Hamilton have? [citation needed] The character of Lana Winters (Sarah Paulson) in American Horror Story: Asylum is inspired by Bly's experience in the asylum. In the piece, writer Erasmus Wilson (known to Dispatch readers as the "Quiet Observer," or Q.O.) Date accessed. Before becoming an investigative journalist and travelling around the world in 72 days, Nellie Bly had a childhood. Nellie Bly had 14 siblings (10 half-siblings; 4 full blooded siblings). How many brothers and sisters did Ella Baker have? Pace, Lawson. Elizabeth hoped the massive newspaper industry of New York City would be more open-minded to a female journalist and left Pittsburgh. 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. 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. Into the Madhouse with Nellie Bly: Girl Stunt Reporting in the Late Nineteenth Century America. American Quarterly, 54 no 2. How many siblings did Louisa May Alcott have? [10] In 1880, Cochrane's mother moved her family to Allegheny City, which was later annexed by the City of Pittsburgh. Nellie Bly, was one of fourteen siblings growing up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Just over seventy-two days after her departure from Hoboken, Bly was back in New York. Nellie Bly Lesson for Kids: Biography & Facts. Bly switched back to reporting, later on writing stories on Europe's Eastern Front during World War I and the Woman Suffrage Parade of 1913. [49], During the 1990s, playwright Lynn Schrichte wrote and toured Did You Lie, Nellie Bly?, a one-woman show about Bly. In 1889, the paper sent her on a trip around the world in a record-setting 72 days. Following her marriage, she retired from journalism and became the president of her husband's Iron Clad Manufacturing Company. How many brothers and sisters did Jimmy Carter have? [16] Cochrane originally intended that her pseudonym be "Nelly Bly", but her editor wrote "Nellie" by mistake, and the error stuck. During World War I, she traveled to Europe as the first woman to report from the trenches on the front line. How many siblings did Lucretia Mott have? 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. This is a short thirty-minute lesson on Frances Ellen Watkins Harper. How many children did Catherine of Aragon have? Read free previews and reviews from booklovers. Also, her 1889 record-breaking trip around the world in 72 days, in emulation of Jules Verne's fictional character Phileas Fogg, was a historic move for a woman at that time. 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. Christina Ricci starred as Bly and Transparent's Judith Light played the role of the head nurse. Before becoming an investigative journalist and travelling around the world in 72 days,. After her return, she toured the country as a lecturer. How many children did Catherine Parr have? 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. How many children did Anne Hutchinson have? She was far and away the best-known woman journalist of her day. She met Jules Verne at his home in France. Elizabeth Cochran (she later added a final e to Cochran) received scant formal schooling. What does that mean, and how did her writing contribute to reform efforts on a variety of issues? How many siblings did Wilma Rudolph have? Our experts can answer your tough homework and study questions. How many siblings did Sojourner Truth have? How many siblings did Marie Antoinette have? . How might Elizabeths position as a woman have helped her investigative reporting? How many siblings did Sybil Ludington have? Just two years after reviving her writing career, on January 27, 1922, Bly died from pneumonia in New York City. Unable to maintain the land or their house, Blys family left Cochran's Mill. What might she have been able to do that men could not? Safely home, she accused Daz of being a tyrannical czar suppressing the Mexican people and controlling the press. For ten days Elizabeth experienced the physical and mental abuses suffered by patients. 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. Elizabeths report about Blackwells Island earned her a permanent position as an investigative journalist for the World. 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. American investigative journalist (18641922), Elizabeth Cochran, "Nellie Bly," aged about 26. Ten Days in the Madhouse. A Celebration of Women Writers. How many siblings did Elizabeth Blackwell have? [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]. 1. The investigative nature of her articles and her cry for womens rights issues did not go too well with the editors of the newspaper who pushed her into the so-called women's pages to cover fashion, society, and gardening. The majority of her writings were literary works. Kroeger, Brooke. However, not long after beginning her courses there, financial constraints forced Bly to table her hopes for higher education. The editor was so impressed with her writing that he gave her a job. . 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 many siblings did Victoria Woodhull have? 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. All rights reserved. How many siblings did Ruth Bader Ginsburg have? Gertrude Kasebier (photographer), Zitkala Sa, Sioux Indian and activist, c. 1898. Her sharply critical articles angered Mexican officials and caused her expulsion from the country. [57], Bly has been the subject of two episodes of the Comedy Central series Drunk History. Nellie Bly was an unwavering advocate for social change, a journalistic dynamo, and a force of nature. 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. She went undercover to expose an insane asylums horrors. But Bly held the record for only a few months before it was broken by businessman George Francis Train who completed the journey in 67 days. (Bly's record was beaten in 1890 by George Francis Train, who finished the trip in 67 days.). Unfortunately, he died when Elizabeth was only six years old and his fortune was divided among his many children, leaving Elizabeths mother and her children with a small fraction of the wealth they once enjoyed. Patents 808,327 and 808,413). 1985.212. She told him about her plans to travel alone by train and ship around the world. 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. 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 sisters did Charles Dickens have? Robert was a millionaire who owned the Iron Clad Manufacturing Company and the American Steel Barrel Company. Bly, Nellie. She is often confused with the journalist Nellie Bly (1864-1922). 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. Biography of Nellie Bly, Investigative Journalist, World Traveler. She went undercover to expose an insane asylums horrors. How many siblings did Coretta Scott King have? Also around this time, she retired from journalism, and by all accounts, the couple enjoyed a happy marriage. 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. Also Known As: Elizabeth Jane Cochran, Elisabeth Cochrane Seaman, place of death: New York City, United States, Notable Alumni: Indiana University Of Pennsylvania, education: Indiana University Of Pennsylvania, See the events in life of Nellie Bly in Chronological Order, (Journalist and Writer Known for Her Record-BreakingTrip Around the Worldin 72 Days), http://www.newseum.org/2015/03/17/unsung-heroes-nellie-bly/, http://womenshistory.about.com/od/blynellie/p/Nellie-Bly.htm, https://www.post-gazette.com/life/lifestyle/2015/01/25/Honoring-Nellie-Bly-s-trip-125-years-ago-a-British-woman-retraces-her-steps-around-the-globe/stories/201501250014, https://www.biography.com/people/nellie-bly-9216680. Within her lifetime, Nellie Bly published three non-fiction books (compilations of her newspaper reportage) and one novel in book form. Nellie Bly was ousted from Mexico after she ran a series of articles criticizing the Mexican dictator and ruler, Porfirio Diaz. She also prioritized the welfare of the employees, providing health care benefits and recreational facilities. In 1887 Cochrane left Pittsburgh for New York City and went to work for Joseph Pulitzers New York World. How many brothers and sisters did Theodore Roosevelt have? In early 2019, Lifetime released a thriller based on Bly's experience as an undercover reporter in a women's mental ward. Her plan was to graduate and find a position as a teacher. 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. Most of Blys early works revolved around the negative consequences of sexist ideologies and emphasized the importance of women's rights issues. Similar reportorial gambits took her into sweatshops, jails, and the legislature (where she exposed bribery in the lobbyist system). In 1895, Elizabeth retired from writing and married Robert Livingston Seaman. He later became a merchant, postmaster, and associate justice at Cochran's Mills (which was named after him) in Pennsylvania.