Nellie Bly
Nellie Bly would do anything to get her story. Fueled by righteous rage and a rebellious nature, Nellie would take on the world for a good lead. She crashed asylum gates and factory floors, was tossed into prisons and out of countries-all to get at the truth she knew the public deserved to know. Friends, coworkers, and authorities soon learned that there was only one thing to do when Nellie Bly went after a story, and that was to get out of the way.
When Nellie decided that she should work for the biggest paper in the country-the New York World-she went after the job with her usual tenacity. Nellie told the editor, Joseph Pulitzer, that she would get him the biggest story of the year by going undercover in the state asylum system. It was a frightening plan-the asylum system of the nineteenth century was little better than a holding pen for society's castoffs, where the inmates were treated more like animals than patients. Nellie knew this, and wanted to write the expose of the decade.
Her story was a sensation. "Behind Asylum Bars" sold out of stands everywhere. Every paper in the country picked up the story of the daring "girl reporter" and the scandal she had uncovered. Nellie was suddenly the most famous journalist in the country, but even more importantly, the New York asylum system underwent eventual reform, all because of Nellie's amazing undercover work.
In 1889, Nellie set her sites on another life's dream: a trip around the world. But this would be no leisurely trip-Nellie had read Around the World in 80 Days by Jules Verne, and was determined to break the record of the main character Phineas Fogg. This was a nearly impossible goal for her time-Phineas' trip had been fictional, after all-and international travel was a slow and weary process. Nellie ignored the skeptics, and took off. Papers all over the country tracked her route. Her trip was grueling and filled with obstacles, but the world was stunned when she made her goal, finishing in seventy-two days.
Excerpted from the book Cool Women with permission of publisher, Girl Press.
Learn More About Nellie Bly
Around the World
http://erc.lib.umn.edu/dynaweb/travel/blyaroun/@Generic__BookView
Read the actual words of one of Nellie's most famous assignments-travelling around the world in less than 80 days (as discussed in Jules Verne's novel) and reporting on along the way.
About Nellie Bly
http://home.att.net/~gapehenry/NellieBly.html
Read more about her life and see the popular Victorian trading cards that commemorated her travels, created by a great-niece.
Nellie Bly Excerpts
http://teacher.scholastic.com/researchtools/articlearchives/womhst/nellie.htm
Read excerpts of all her journalism articles here.
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