Nellie Bly
Bettmann/CORBISNellie Bly, circa 1880s-1890s.
Born Elizabeth Jane Cochran in 1864, Nellie Bly was better known by her pen name during her career as a daring and rule-breaking journalist.
At a time when women struggled to get the same professional respect as men, Bly was a famous explorer for her trailblazing advocacy for equality. She famously went undercover in a mental asylum to expose the horrible conditions that women suffered inside.
Volunteering to be institutionalized, Bly only managed to get released after the paper she worked for intervened.
Her story immediately made her famous and led to reforms in the asylum. The next year, she decided to try her hand at a new story.
Inspired by the book Around the World in 80 Days, Bly decided to circumnavigate the globe by herself.
Library of CongressNellie Bly.
Her proposal immediately caught the public’s attention, and a rival magazine quickly sponsored their own reporter to beat Bly back to New York.
Bly traveled from New York to England. Then she traveled across Europe, through the Middle East, and eventually made her way to Japan. The entire time, she cabled her reports back to the paper so the public could follow along.
She finally made her way back to New York, beating her fictional rival by four days.
She made the journey in 72 days, setting a world record.
Eventually, she retired from her career as a journalist and took over her late husband’s position as leader of a manufacturing company.
She died of pneumonia at 57, challenging widely-held ideas about what women could do until the end.
