Nellie Bly

Today, not many Americans will recognize the name Nellie Bly when heard, but things were much different 100 years ago. It would have been very difficult to find any American that had not heard of the famous Nellie Bly. Nellie Bly burst on the scene at the turn of the century when journalism was considered only a man’s world. Nellie Bly helped to launch a new kind of investigative journalism into the world.

Elizabeth Jane Cochran was born on May 5, 1864 in Cochran Mills, Pennsylvania. She was the thirteenth child of her family and considered the most rebellious of the family. When Nellie was just six years old her father abruptly died, leaving her mother to raise fifteen children. (Around the World in 72 Days). The death of her father was a terrible financial blow to the family because her father left no will to protect the family’s interests. A year after the death the family was forced to auction off the mansion and move to a more modest home. Nellie helped her mother take care of the other children, but still they came into very hard times. (Around the World in 72 Days). Elizabeth’s mother desperately sought financial security so she remarried. She entered a very disastrous marriage to an abusive man. He often beat Elizabeth and her mother. Soon after the marriage began she sued for divorce and Elizabeth testified at the trial. “My stepfather has been generally drunk since he married my mother, When drunk he is very cross and cross when sober.” (Around the World in 72 Days). Elizabeth soon sought an independent life and wanted a way to support her mother. She started attending the Indiana Normal School to become a teacher. While attending school Elizabeth decided to add an ‘e’ to her last name for sophistication. (Nellie Bly, Wikipedia). After one semester of schooling Elizabeth had to drop out because she didn’t have enough money to continue schooling. Elizabeth then moved back to Pittsburgh with her mother. She stayed there for the next seven years but had a difficult time finding full-time work because there were only low paid jobs available to women at that time. (Nellie Bly, USA History).

Elizabeth always had the dream of becoming a writer one day, she did not realize however just how close she was to reaching her long held dream. It all started one day in 1885 when she read a series column in the Pittsburgh Dispatch. (Nellie Bly, USA History). The article was entitled “What Girls Are Good For” by Erasmus Wilson. Wilson wrote that women belonged only at home doing sewing, cooking, and raising children. He said that a working woman was “a monstrosity.” (Around the World in 72 Days). Once Elizabeth read this article she was outraged, because she was very familiar with just how hard women had to work to survive. She quickly wrote back a letter to the newspaper protesting everything the editor had said. George Madden at the Pittsburgh Dispatch was so impressed with the spirit of her writing that he decided to give her a job. (Nellie Bly, Wikipedia). There they gave her the pen name “Nellie Bly,” after the Stephen foster song. (Around the World in 72 Days).

At the age of eighteen, Bly wrote her first story about difficulties of poor working girls in Pittsburgh, slum life, and things of other concern. This story marked her a reporter of ingenuity and concern. (Bly, Nellie). Nellie’s second article was on divorce based interviews and arguing to reform the state’s divorce and marriage laws. (Nellie Bly, USA History). Madden was very impressed with her article, so he hired her as a full-time reporter. Following this she did a series of investigative articles about factory girls in Pittsburgh. Despite her efforts, editors at the paper moved her to the women’s page and assigned her stories such as to cover fashion and flower shows, the usual role for female journalists of that time. (Nellie Bly, Wikipedia). Nellie found a way out of writing these stories by convincing the editors to let her travel to Mexico and be their foreign correspondent. (Around the World in 72 Days). There at the age of twenty-one she spent almost half a year reporting about the everyday lives and customs of Mexican people. The reports she sent back were on official corruption and the conditions of the poor. Nellie’s critical angles angered Mexican officials and caused them to expel her from the country. (Bly, Nellie). Her findings were later collected and put into her first book called Six Months in Mexico. (Dennison). When she returned the Pittsburgh Dispatch once again confined her to writing on the women’s page. Nellie had enough, she decided to leave the Dispatch and go on to New York City. She left a note on Wilson’s desk that read, “Dear Q.O., I’m off for New York. Look out for me. Bly.” (Around the World in 72 Days). For nearly six months Nellie tried getting a job at one of New York’s newspaper companies. Finally,