Nellie Bly

One of the most well known female journalists, Nellie Bly revolutionized journalism and investigative reporting. She worked at the Pittsburgh Dispatch and started to write investigative reports on the working conditions of women in industrial factories, but after the paper got complaints about the articles, she was sent to write articles on society, fashion, and gardening. She later went to Mexico as a forgien correspondent, and later had to flee the country after political threats. In 1877, she left the Pittsburgh Dispatch for the New York World. She snuck into Women’s Lunatic Asylum on Blackwell Island, where she reported an exposé on the treatment of women in mental institutions. Her work led to many reforms in mental health care, especially for women. In 1888, she attempted to travel across the world in less than eighty days, and she did it in seventy-two. She later covered World War One and was the first woman to visit the war zone between Serbia and Austria. She was also a vocal suffragette, and covered the movement for women’s right to vote closely.