The word Renaissance man was coined as a term to describe a man with a multitude of skills and talents but likewise a Renaissance woman is a term with the same definition but it is in the bottom 10% of terms used. A woman's role has been seen to cook, take care of children, and maintain the home but in reality women are capable of so much more. Journalist, Nellie Bly prevailed through all the stereotypes. Typically the newsroom was very masculine and women were seen to be too faint of heart to be in the newsroom. They were given authority to write columns pertaining to women’s issues and topics such as gardening and fashion. Nellie Bly was determined to change that.
Nellie Bly was a journalist in the 1900s who was hired by George Maddon for her letter in rebuttal of Eramus Wilson’s response of an “anxious father” who did not know what to do with his unmarried daughters. Wilson believed it was the father’s duty to prepare the daughters for stereotypically jobs women have to complete such as maintaining the household. Within that letter she refuted Wilson’s claims for what women are only good for and signed it “the lonely orphan” which later became known to be Elizabeth Cochrane also known as the pen name Nellie Bly, the name came from a Stephen Foster song. Getting paid a little more than factory workers at the time Bly was set out on a mission to cover more hitting stories. To begin her great journalistic career, she wrote a letter to the Pittsburgh Dispatch on how it was not fair how women journalists were writing to survive and wouldn’t be considered for a story because they were too “faint of heart”. Bly was left with nothing after her father died and her family struggled to make ends meet. Two years with continuous work on the Pittsburgh Dispatch with articles such as The Girl Puzzle and Mad Marriages where she was extremely opinionated and called for action from advocates for women’s rights she felt it was time to move onto more hard hitting stories in New York, New York.
At the time New York only had ten daily newspapers; Bly had her eye on The New York World. She came to the paper with the idea of traveling the world and reporting on the life of immigrants coming to the United States yet instead she was challenged on writing an exposé on Blackwell’s Island, an women’s only insane asylum. The stunt was led by Vernon Davis, the New York District Attorney at the time. The asylum had multiple reports of horrific treatment of their patients. In order to get inside the asylum, Bly went to a boarding home and convinced every resident that she was insane. Bly was taken in by cops where she was examined by doctors where the best course of action was to commit her to Blacwell’s Island. Once in, Bly acted like her sane self as well she brought in a pencil and a pad. When she requested her items, the nurses and doctors told her that it was a figment of her imagination. In addition the doctors did not care she was completely sane and had her and the other patients sit on straight back benches all day instead of any treatments. Blackwell’s Island was a rat trap. Once someone was committed, it was impossible to get out. After ten days in the asylum, a lawyer got Bly out where she then wrote her exposé exposing the wrongdoings of the asylum. Her writing was true to her experience within the asylum and did not leave anything out. From the article, New York allocated another million dollars to the care of the insane. The expose landed her a permanent job at the New York World where she became one of the first female journalists in stunt journalism.
She went on to play hundreds of roles to shed light on injustices. Some of her roles included: Helen Wolcott who was arrested for Grand Larceny to show treatment of women prisoners. Nora Simpson who went into a clinic in perfect health to prove the clinic was not properly “treating” patients. Alice Bostwick went to uncover what became of all the unwanted baby weights in New York City. Mrs. Stephen Foster played the wife of a man in the patent medicine business. She asked a notorious lobbyist if he could assist in blocking a piece of legislation. Foster claimed her husband wanted to thank the men who helped block the legislation. In actuality, Bly exposed the names of 6 members of the committee that were corrupt. Bly only ever lied about her name and age on any of her stunts. The ethical question she faced was if it was for the truth why start off with a lie where in response she said that the only way to find out the truth was to use white lies because who would confess their secrets to a journalist knowingly. Bly’s writings were unique as she came from nowhere and nobody which allowed her to view the world differently. All her writings consisted of social justice but she had one piece that was different than her others...
One of her biggest stories was proving if in reality could the world be traveled in 80 days. The New York World at first did not want to indorse the story as women were seen as not being able to travel light. The newspaper did not think it was logically for Bly to cover the story but rather a man should. After some convincing, she landed the story. Nellie Bly traveled the world in a record breaking 72 days with only one spare dress. All though the story was not as interesting as the newspaper expected, she went to break all the stereotypes women had placed on them for traveling solo with tons of baggage.
Overall, Nellie Bly under many different personas single handedly exposed social injustices that plagued the nation at the time. Without her many injustices would have been swept under the rug. Not to mention Nellie Bly paved the path for future generations of women journalists.