Great Women Of History - Nellie Bly (The Undercover Journalist)
In the world have emerged women who changed the course of history, that with their skills and feats managed to earn a great place in time, however its path has not been at all easy, considered by many as the weaker sex, these great women showed that they are stronger than they imagine, so today we pay tribute to the Pioneer of Covert Journalism, this is her story:
Born in 1864, in a small town in Pennsylvania (USA), Elizabeth Jane Cochran, better known as Nellie Bly (Journalist's name). This peculiar girl, without thinking, or looking for it, changed the journalistic world and the perception of many women at that time, when her father died a well-known judge named Michael Cochran, when she was 6 years old, the real problems in Elizabeth's house began, the shortage of food, and the economic problems did not take long to come, However, they thought that their luck would change when their mother met another man, with whom she got married, but the relationship lasted very little. Many problems occurred so that the lady requested a divorce, such was the magnitude of the situation that Miss Cochran had to withdraw from school and abandon all her dreams, including being a teacher. In 1880 they moved to the city of Pittsburgh, and managed to have a kind of inn, where thanks to the reception of guests, they managed to pay their debts, however Elizabeth's life would change in 1885, thanks to an article entitled "What are girls good for" in The Pittsburgh Dispatch. According to that press release, the author openly criticized women, saying that they did not deserve to be educated, on the contrary they had to be always at home, supposedly that writer also supported the practice of girl infanticide.
Such was the rage and frustration that consumed Elizabeth, that she decided to respond to the author, but under the pseudonym "Lonely Orphan Girl", however the editor of the newspaper George Madden was so fascinated by the way this girl expressed herself, the words she used to demonstrate her disagreement with that article, her rage and indignation, that he sent a letter, inviting "Lonely Orphan Girl". To offer her a full-time job, which the young Cochran accepted. At Mr. Madden Elizabeth's suggestion, she began using her new pseudonym that would make her an undercover journalist (Nellie Bly). But this girl didn't want to write about fashion or beauty, she wanted to go to the real information, to the action, and she started to address social issues, quite convulsed by that time, this made her earn death threats, and a lot of criticism, because a woman could not talk about those issues. This only caused Elizabeth to become indignant and resign, but her desire to do real journalism, but her desire to show that women were also capable of investigating, and to show the truth simply increased.
Her desire to tell true and important stories led her to work as a foreign correspondent, her first job in another country was in Mexico, where she began to study the government of Porfirio Diaz, who was President of that country on seven occasions. During her 30 year term, under the name of Nellie Bly, she strongly criticized this military man, denouncing the corruption network and the exploitation of the peasants. After returning to her country, she managed to publish a book entitled "My Six Months in Mexico". However, this did not discourage her, and she continued looking for more stories to tell, so she moved to the Big Apple (New York), luck was smiling on her or so she thought, when the owner of Joseph Pulitzer's New York World Newspaper, assigned her a job that at first sight seemed impossible, But not for Cochran, it turns out that in the 1880's in that city, there was a women's shelter called Blackwell's Island, which did not have the best reputation, many were the stories that were told about that dreaded place, so his job was to go to that place and find out if it was true what was happening. So she began to plan everything, she rented a room under her journalistic name, and after a few days she began to act as if she was crazy, acting strange, pretending to forget where she was, such was her good performance, that they called the police, and they referred her to that asylum, however she did not know that that was where her worst nightmare began.
She spent 10 days in this place, where she lived in her own flesh, what it was like to be locked up, and they made you feel like a madwoman, according to their stories, the first thing they did in this fearsome place, was a rather rudimentary practice, which consisted of erasing your memory, drowning you in cold water, this caused the women admitted, to forget what they had done in the past, and to settle for the data provided by the person in charge of the Asylum and the nurses, apart from this, There were very cruel treatments, food that not even the dogs would be given, while the women in charge of the Asylum ate like royalty, according to this place there were women of other nationalities, who were interned just because they spoke another language, or simply because they were poor, such were the inhumane treatments that occurred in this place, which made the women go to bed with wet clothes at night, and if you responded badly, or made a bad move, they would slap you and hit you on the head.
And you may be wondering how our dear Nellie managed to get out of this hell, after 10 days, the newspaper's lawyer showed up at that place, claiming that she was not crazy as the medical records said, and thanks to this, she managed to tell the world, what was happening in that asylum, with an article entitled: "Ten days in an asylum", such was the magnitude of her story, that they began an investigation, and they intervened the place, the manager and nurses, were arrested, and the women who were locked up, some released and others transferred to other mental places, where they had a treatment according to their mental situation, then decided to close this site that undoubtedly is a sign that when there is no constant observation, and monitoring of places like this, everything gets out of control. These were some of Bly's words: "Most of the patients in psychiatric hospitals were not crazy, and they entered them for lack of resources, it's very easy to get in, but once inside, it's impossible to get out". However her stories, and great works do not end here, Journalist Nellie demonstrated to the world, that a woman was more than capable of investigating, denouncing and telling stories that deserve to be told, her courage, and bravery made her a Pioneer of Undercover Journalism, if you want to know more about her there is a film based on this story of the asylum, we will leave the Link of the Bringer here. We hope you like this short biography of a woman who undoubtedly deserves to be admired, respected and remembered, for showing us that women were never and never will be the weaker sex. In 1922, at the age of 57, Elizabeth Cochran died of pneumonia.
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Written Sources
This text was translated from Spanish to English thanks to the translator Deepl.
