In an era where woman were treated as a second-class citizens, Elizabeth Cohran Seaman was born. Women were dubbed as the weak persons, and because of that Elizabeth tried to voice out that women are stronger than most people think so, by becoming a reporter. Elizabeth was born from a big family. Her father died when she was only six years of age, and by that time their savings are running out. Elizabeth and her mother lived with their relatives at the age of 16. She was known as a courageous woman, and she badly wanted to become a writer.
Elizabeth replied to the author of an article called 'What Girls Are Good For,' by George Madden, whilst using an alias called, Lonely Orphan Girl. George got pretty impressed with Elizabeth, and even ran an advertisement to call on the Lonely Orphan Girl to identify herself to him. George offered a full-time writing job to Elizabeth, only under one condition, which is she has to use a pen name called Nellie Bly. She wrote investigative pieces for newspapers. Bly's article has covered women's deplorable working conditions.
Bly moved to a new work for New York World, and pitched into going to investigate the abuses at the Women's Lunatic Asylum in Blackwell Island. She decided to go undercover to find out what is happening inside the Asylum. She feigned insanity to get into the institution, which the doctors got fooled 100% into thinking that she's insane.
After getting inside the Asylum, she dropped the act and began to interview fellow patients. From then on she experienced firsthand the disturbing practices in the asylum such as getting fed with spoiled beef, dried bread, undrinkable water, and gruel broth. Alongside with physical and mental abuse by the staffs of the asylum.
Bly found out that some of the patients who got admitted to the Asylum were actually sane. Some were physically ill, some were just too poor, some were unable to speak in the English language, and some were maliciously placed by their own families. After 10 days, Bly was retrieved by a lawyer from the New York World as promised. And from then on she wrote 'Ten Days in a Mad-house.' After her article got published, the Asylum's swift reforms were changed based on Bly's recommendations. The doctors and other staffs got exposed, who were actually shocked with how Bly deceived them.
The grand jury awarded additional funds for the care of those of the insane, and even got stricter in determining the patients mental capacity. After hundreds of years, netizens from all over the world continues to praise Bly for her dedication with her work as a journalist. Also Bly became an inventor as well as a traveler who went around than 80 days.
Via: TNP
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