Early Life & Fierce Determination
Elizabeth Jane Cochrane (later known as Nellie Bly) was born on May 5, 1864, in Cochran’s Mills, Pennsylvania.
Her father died when she was six, which led to financial troubles for the family. Her early years taught her about hardship and the unfairness of life, especially toward those with little voice.
Biography
As a young woman, she saw an article in her local newspaper that said women were only good for raising children and keeping house. That struck her as wrong. She wrote a strong reply to the editor, arguing women deserved more opportunities, to use their minds, and to be heard.
National Women’s History Museum
The editor liked her writing so much he published her response—and then asked her to write for the paper. But since female writers often weren’t taken seriously under their own names, she used a pseudonym. He suggested “Nellie Bly,” drawn from a popular Stephen Foster song.
National Park Service
Stepping Beyond the “Women’s Pages”
Once she started, Nellie Bly didn’t want to be boxed into covering only fashion, society events, or gossip—topics traditionally reserved for women in newspapers. She pushed herself to report on serious social problems: working conditions, poverty, corruption.
National Geographic
She even went to Mexico in 1886–87 as a foreign correspondent. There, she reported on the lives of ordinary people, on government corruption and the suppression of journalists. Her work was so sharp that officials threatened her, and she eventually left the country to avoid arrest.
National Geographic
Ten Days in a Mad-House — Undercover to Change Lives
One of Nellie Bly’s most powerful pieces was done in 1887 after she moved to New York, working for The New York World. Her assignment: investigate what life was really like in the women’s ward of a mental asylum on Blackwell’s Island. To do that, she pretended to be mentally ill, got herself committed, and spent ten days inside.
National Park Service
During those ten days, she saw terrible poverty, neglect, cruelty, filthy conditions, spoiled food, lack of medical attention, abusive staff. She spoke with women who were there unjustly, including many who were healthy but had no power to prove it.
Her article, Ten Days in a Mad-House, caused a public uproar. People were shocked. The government responded: there was a grand jury investigation, improvements were made to the asylum’s treatment of patients, funding was increased. Her undercover reporting didn’t just inform—it led to reform.
A Race Around the World
In 1889, inspired by Jules Verne’s Around the World in Eighty Days, Nellie Bly proposed doing the journey herself and beating the fictional record. The New York World agreed and backed her. She left on November 14, 1889, from Hoboken, New Jersey, and traveled using ship, train, rickshaw, and other modes available at the time.
Heinz History Center
After an adventure that took her through rough seas, changing weather, transport delays, and other challenges, she returned in 72 days, 6 hours, and 11 minutes. The trip gained massive public attention. When she arrived back, thousands cheered. She became internationally famous.
Later Life & Legacy
Marriage and business: In 1895 she married industrialist Robert Seaman, who was much older than her. After he died in 1904, she took over his manufacturing company, Iron Clad Manufacturing, becoming one of the few women industrialists of her era.
Other work: She continued writing; during World War I she served as a war correspondent. She also supported women’s suffrage (the movement for women’s right to vote).
National Women’s History Museum
Death: Nellie Bly died of pneumonia on January 27, 1922, in New York City, aged 57.
Why Her Story Still Matters
Nellie Bly showed what investigative journalism can do: expose truth, force reforms, give voice to the powerless.
She broke deeply held beliefs about what women could or should do. In her time, many thought women must stay at home; Bly went undercover, traveled around the world, ran a business. She refused to accept limits.
Her work reminds us that sometimes courage, creativity, and persistence—carrying a pen, speaking truth—can bring big change.
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