Around The World With Nellie Bly: A pioneer of female journalism
On Nov. 14, 1889 — 135 years ago today — the world’s most famous female journalist – Nellie Bly of the New York World – set out to see if she could beat a fictional around-the-world record journey of 80 days.
On Nov. 14, 1889 — 135 years ago today — the world’s most famous female journalist – Nellie Bly of the New York World – set out to see if she could beat a fictional around-the-world record journey of 80 days.
In 1885, 21-year-old Elizabeth Cochran read an editorial in her hometown newspaper, the Pittsburgh Dispatch urging women not to become too educated or to have a career. Her scathing reply was published and led to a full-time job covering the poor and underprivileged of Pittsburgh.
In 1887, Cochran moved to New York to begin work for one of the world’s most notable newspapers at the time, Joseph Pulitzer’s New York World. Using the pen name Nellie Bly, she pioneered the field of investigative journalism, checking herself into a notorious insane asylum on Blackwell’s Island. For 10 days, she lived among the patients there, enduring rotten food and filthy conditions until her editors rescued her.
Bly’s stories — “Behind Asylum Bars” and “Inside the Mad-House” — resulted in sweeping reform of the state’s mental health facilities.
A Trip Around The World
In November 1889, Bly talked her editors into sending her around the world to see if she could beat the record established by the fictional Phileas Fogg of Jules Verne’s classic “Around the World in 80 Days.”
Bly resisted the temptation to overpack for her journey. She brought only the one dress she wore, a heavy overcoat, hat and gloves, several changes of underwear and a small bag with toiletries.
Elapsed Time: 72 days, 6 hours, 11 minutes. Distance Traveled? 21,740 miles.
After Bly's Journey
Bly’s travels made her famous and sold a lot of newspapers. However, she felt slighted that Pulitzer didn’t offer her a bonus. She left newspapers and published a book about her journey.
In 1893, she rejoined the World and covered topics like police corruption in New York, the Pullman labor strike and the movement to earn women the right to vote.
She retired again in 1895, married industrialist Robert Seaman and, after his death, ran his company. Their most notable product: The 55-gallon barrel.
When World War I broke out in 1914, Bly moved to Europe and worked as a war correspondent for William Randolph Hearst’s New York Evening Journal.
She moved back to New York when the war ended and wrote a popular column for the Evening Journal.
She died of pneumonia in 1922 at age 57.