She began her journalistic career before she was 20 years old. Working in a time when very few women had ever achieved a great deal of success in journalism, Nelly Bly broke every mold and every expectation as to what a woman could do in the ‘man’s world’ of newspaper reporting. Smart, fearless, and determined, Nellie Bly fearlessly exposed the harsh, unfair working conditions for mill workers in Pittsburgh, drawing the ire of the richest people in the city. She then served as her newspaper’s foreign correspondent in Mexico before being run out of the country for exposing governmental corruption. This dangerous assignment made the petite Ms. Bly the first woman ever to be an accredited foreign correspondent for an American newspaper!

Wanting greater challenges and rejecting the stereotypical notion that female reporters should cover “women’s stories,” Nelly Bly moved to New York City. In her first assignment for Joseph Pulitzer, she risked her life going undercover in a “mental asylum” in New York. For ten harrowing days, she was locked in an asylum where Ms. Bly was starved, tortured, and unable to secure her own release. Her bombshell reporting caused the New York City asylum to be shut down, and New York agreed to major reforms in the way they treated people with mental health issues.

Today, Nellie Bly is probably best remembered for being the first person ever to travel around the world in less than 80 days. If you are impressed with her accomplishments, let me add that she did all this before she was 25 years old!

The post Nellie Bly appeared first on Speaking For A Change.

She began her journalistic career before she was 20 years old. Working in a time when very few women had ever achieved a great deal of success in journalism, Nelly Bly broke every mold and every expectation as to what a woman could do in the ‘man’s world’ of newspaper reporting. Smart, fearless, and determined, Nellie Bly fearlessly exposed the harsh, unfair working conditions for mill workers in Pittsburgh, drawing the ire of the richest people in the city. She then served as her newspaper’s foreign correspondent in Mexico before being run out of the country for exposing governmental corruption. This dangerous assignment made the petite Ms. Bly the first woman ever to be an accredited foreign correspondent for an American newspaper!

Wanting greater challenges and rejecting the stereotypical notion that female reporters should cover “women’s stories,” Nelly Bly moved to New York City. In her first assignment, for Joseph Pulitzer, she risked her life going undercover in a “mental asylum” in New York. For ten harrowing days, she was locked in an asylum where Ms. Bly was starved, tortured, and unable to secure her own release. Her bombshell reporting caused the New York City asylum to be shut down, and New York agreed to major reforms in the way they treated people with mental health issues.

Today, Nellie Bly is probably best remembered for being the first person ever to travel around the world in less than 80 days. If you are impressed with her accomplishments, let me add that she did all this before she was 25 years old!

The post Nellie Bly appeared first on Speaking For A Change.

However,  this groundbreaking woman was a pioneer in journalism. Her role in attacking the conclusions of the Warren Commission became enormously important and highly controversial as Americans began to question the conclusion that Lee Harvey Oswald was the lone assassin of Pres. Kennedy!

Dorothy Kilgallen was the first woman in America ever to be a full-time murder reporter. She broke numerous major scoops and often made national headlines with her fearless coverage of criminal trials.

When Dorothy Kilgallen learned that a male newspaper reporter would try to break the record for the fastest trip around the world, Dorothy Kilgallen decided to challenge him to a race. The world became fixated on the “modern-day Nellie Bly.” Her exploits made Kilgallen famous and were even fictionalized in a major Hollywood movie!

This fame led her to New York and a position as both a serious reporter and a catty gossip columnist covering Broadway. Her unique career led her into a major feud with Frank Sinatra, put her in a position to break open the Notorious and controversial Sam Shepard murder case, and to leak the story of Marilyn Monroe’s affair with Pres. John F. Kennedy.

Long before America met her as a game show panelist, Dorothy Kilgallen became the first mainstream newspaper Porter in the country to question the Warren Commission. She endlessly attacked them, always hinting that she knew more than she was saying at the moment. When she died under very mysterious circumstances, many people concluded that she was murdered to shut her up about what she knew about the assassination of JFK.

I promise you will find surprises around every corner as Dorothy Kilgallen’s life is revealed. Throughout this fascinating multimedia presentation, we will learn the unexpected, unparalleled, and definitely unique story of the life and death of the fantastic Dorothy Kilgallen.

The post Dorothy Kilgallen appeared first on Speaking For A Change.

She began her journalistic career before she was 20 years old. Working in a time when very few women had ever achieved a great deal of success in journalism, Nelly Bly broke every mold and every expectation as to what a woman could do in the ‘man’s world’ of newspaper reporting. Smart, fearless, and determined, Nellie Bly fearlessly exposed the harsh, unfair working conditions for mill workers in Pittsburgh, drawing the ire of the richest people in the city. She then served as her newspaper  ‘s foreign correspondent in Mexico before being run out of the country for exposing governmental corruption. This dangerous assignment made the petite Ms. Bly the first woman ever to be an accredited foreign correspondent for an American newspaper!

Wanting greater challenges and rejecting the stereotypical notion that female reporters should cover “women’s stories,” Nelly Bly moved to New York City. In her first assignment, for Joseph Pulitzer, she risked her life going undercover in a “mental asylum” in New York. For ten harrowing days, she was locked in an asylum where Ms. Bly was starved, tortured, and unable to secure her own release. Her bombshell reporting caused the New York City asylum to be shut down, and New York agreed to major reforms in the way they treated people with mental health issues.

Today, Nelly Bly is probably best remembered for being the first person ever to travel around the world in less than 80 days. If you are impressed with her accomplishments, let me add that she did all this before she was 25 years old!

The post Nellie Bly appeared first on Speaking For A Change.

Nellie Bly fearlessly exposed the harsh, unfair working conditions for mill workers in Pittsburgh, drawing the ire of the wealthiest people in the city.  She served as her newspaper’s foreign correspondent in Mexico before being run out of the country for exposing governmental corruption, risked her life going undercover in a “mental asylum” in New York, and set a record for the fastest trip around the world – all before she was 25 years old!

Dorothy Kilgallen was the first woman journalist in American history to be a murder reporter, breaking front-page scoop after scoop before she imitated Nellie Bly and competed in a race around the world -All before she was 25 years old.  She later became an important celebrity columnist, broke important stories, and was the first mainstream reporter to challenge the Warren Commission.  As she was preparing a book purporting to prove that the murder of President John F Kennedy was a conspiracy, Dorothy Kilgallen died under very mysterious circumstances.

Nellie Bly and Dorothy Kilgallen used the power of the press to try and help make society fairer.  And each opened the door for many more women to become journalists.  This multimedia presentation is exciting, fascinating, and even a little scary as we follow these women who risked their lives in pursuit of the truth.

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