Born May 5, 1864 in Pennsylvania
Daughter of
[private father (unknown - 1870's)] and
[private mother (unknown - unknown)]
[sibling(s) unknown]
Wife of
Robert Seaman
— married
[date unknown] [location unknown]
[children unknown]
Died January 27, 1922 in St. Mark's Hospital in New York
Nellie Bly was a 19th century marvel, she was a well known journalist who was famous for her asylum exposé in 1887, Nellie had faked insanity for a better look inside the women’s asylum, another achievement of Nellie's was her journey around the world in 72 days.
Nellie Bly was born Elizabeth Jane Cochran on May 5th 1864 in Cochran Mills, Armstrong County, Pennsylvania. Her parents were Mary and Michael Cochran. Nellie also had younger siblings whose name and gender were not mentioned.
Bly’s father Michael Cochran died when she was only 6 years of age, leaving his family with no will they were forced to move from their estate and move to a modest home. Nellie took on a great responsibility to help look after her siblings, her mother Mary saw this and re-married quickly for the well being of her children. Nellie’s stepfather was abusive, the struggle Nellie had to endure with her stepfather built the foundation for Nellie to become successful in women’s rights.
When Nellie was 18 years old she sent in a letter to the Pittsburgh dispatch expressing her concerns about the sexists comments in the “Quiet Observer” moreover George madden, editor of the dispatch was extremely impressed with her letter that he placed an add in his paper requesting the person who wrote the letter. Nellie Bly wasted no time answering his request, the following day Nellie answered the request to meet with him and right there and then she was offered a job, which Nellie gladly accepted. While It was improper for women to use there real names when publishing articles in the newspaper, after much deliberation Madden chose the name “Nellie Bly” after the song written by Stephen Collins foster. While Nellie was working at the paper she preferred to write about women’s rights. Nellie went undercover in a sweatshop to uncover treacherous working conditions in which women worked. Nellie reported these findings in her column, however the owners of the sweatshop paid the paper for advertisements and threatened to withdraw their ads if Nellie continued to expose them. Nellie was then assigned to fashion, in which she was displeased, so she traveled to Mexico for six months, still reporting for the newspaper she reported on political corruption and poverty. Eventually Nellie’s articles got her kicked out of Mexico by the government. Nellie then traveled back to the United States and instead of going back to Pittsburgh she went to New York. Nellie was in New York four months and still hadn’t found work Nellie decided to take matters in to her own hands, she stormed in to the New York World requested an audience with the managing editor and impressed her with her ideas.
In September 1887 Nellie was accepted to the New York world, her first assignment was to be committed to the women’s insane asylum on Blackwell’s island, she first practiced her “crazy faces” getting ready to fake her insanity, Nellie checked in to a boarding house and started calling people crazy, they soon concluded she was crazy and called the police.
When in front of the judge she claimed to have amnesia, the judge declared she was drugged, but after an examination she was proclaimed “insane” and sent to Blackwell’s asylum. Once inside she observed the food to be gruel and very bland, also the eating area was contaminated by waste and scurrying rats! Nellie proclaimed the water undrinkable, and the nurse’s behavior was unacceptable towards to clients exhibited by making patients chained up to sit on cold benches from 8 am to 9pm, also dumping cold water over their head for bath time.
Ten days later the New York World requested her release, upon release her report on the experience was made in to a book called Ten Days in a Mad House.
The report brought up much controversy, which leads to a chain of events involving Nellie; there were significant changes in funds and conditions for the mentally ill ($850,000).
In 1888 Nellie had the idea to travel around the world, her boss approved it and she made a world record of 72 days.
Nellie eventually married in 1895 at age 31 to Robert Seamen age 71 who was a millionaire of a manufacturing company, Nellie retired from journalism and became president of the company. That same year her husband died and she took over the company, due to mismanagement the company went bankrupt and Nellie was forced back in to reporting, deciding to take a trip to Europe world war one broke out and she stayed there and report it.
Before Nellie died of pneumonia in 1922 she requested her niece to take care of a few children in the orphanage that she had taken interest too. Nellie bly was an important part of humanity, especially womens rights, nellie bly made a dent in history and will stay there as long as people continue to look to the past.
Added by Paige Stearmer Period 1:
Elizabeth Cochran was born in Cochran’s Mills, Pennsylvania. She was one of fifteen brothers and sisters. People called her Pink because her mom would dress her in a lot of pink dresses. Her dad died just after her sixth birthday. Her dad didn’t leave a will, forcing their house to be auctioned off. Her mom soon remarried to an abusive husband. Elizabeth went to the Indiana Normal School when she was fifteen years old, to become a teacher. She had to stop going because she didn’t have enough money to continue going to that school. After, her and her mom moved to Pittsburgh, when she was sixteen. When she was eighteen, she sent a letter to the editor of the Pittsburgh Dispatch about a sexist article. The editor thought her letter was so good that he gave her a job. This job jumpstarted her career as a journalist. She used the name Nellie Bly when writing her articles because women didn’t use their real names when writing. The editor wanted her to write girly pieces; instead she went to Mexico and wrote about the problems there. The government found out that she was writing about them and they ordered her out of the country. The articles she wrote were then put into a book called Six Months in Mexico. Nellie left to New York City and thought it would be easy to find a job. She couldn’t find a job and soon ran out of money. She then, tricked one of the guards at New York World to let her in. The editor was so impressed that he hired her. Nellie’s first assignment was to get committed into an insane asylum, so she could write about the unfairness within the institution. Her boss took her out ten days later. She wrote a book called, Ten Days in a Madhouse, about her experience in the mental asylum. She started to write articles about women’s issues. Her next big assignment was to see if she to travel around the world in less than 80 days. She made it back in 72 days, but then resigned because she was mad that her editors didn’t congratulate her for making it back. After, she married Robert L. Seaman, a millionaire, in 1895. When he died she took over his manufacturing businesses, by 1910 the company was forced into bankruptcy. After, she went on vacation, to Europe, to ease her stress. She went at the start of World War One. She became the first woman war correspondent. She spent four years in Europe. When she got home, she started writing an advice column for the New York Evening Journal. She died at the age of 57, in 1922, of pneumonia. Nellie Bly was one of the best woman reporters in history.
http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/bly/world/world.html
http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/bly/madhouse/madhouse.html
Bibliography
• www.nelliebly.org
• http://home.att.net/~gapehenry/CochranFamily.html
• http://agilewriter.com/Biography/NellieBly.htm
• http://www.library.csi.cuny.edu/dept/history/lavender/386/nellie.html
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On November 1,
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