Wonder Women of the Week: Nellie Bly
Name: Elizabeth Cochrane Seaman aka Nellie Bly
Life: May 5, 1864 – January 27, 1922
Occupation: Journalist, Novelist, Inventor
Super Power: Daredevil Reporting
Elizabeth Cochrane Seaman, better known as Nellie Bly, was a journalist, industrialist, inventor and charity worker. Best known for her record-breaking trip around the world in 72 days, Bly’s passion and determination helped change the world of investigative journalism.
In 1887, Nellie took an undercover assignment in which she agreed to feign insanity to investigate reports of brutality and neglect at the Women’s Lunatic Asylum on Blackwell’s Island. Her horrific findings helped bring significant changes to the asylum and the overall care of mental patients across the country. Bly continued her impressive career by notably covering the Woman Suffrage Parade of 1913 and later becoming the first female front lines reporter during World War I.