By Rosemary J Brown
Women in history shouldn’t be a mystery … and that includes female travellers. Challenged by traditions that placed them firmly in the home, these women burst through social and geographical boundaries to explore, experience and document the world.
Women like intrepid explorer Isabella Bird (1831–1904), queen of the desert Gertrude Bell (1868–1926) who mapped out Iraq, and wayfaring biologist Mary Kingsley (1862–1900). They all left their inhibitions at home and journeyed into the unknown alone. But the female traveller I know best of all is trailblazing journalist Nellie Bly (1864-1922) who circled the world faster than anyone ever had – 72 days – in 1890.
Bly achieved ‘the most remarkable of all feats of circumnavigation ever performed by a human being,’ The New York World newspaper declared. She raced through a man’s world – alone and literally with just the clothes on her back – to beat Phileas Fogg’s fictional record in Around the World in Eighty Days.
Bly not only established a record time, she was living proof that the world was connected. Ocean liners, trans-continental railroads in America and India, and the Suez Canal in Egypt, brought far-flung destinations within reach. Her iconic voyage made the world a smaller place and brought humankind together.
Even more importantly, Nellie Bly pioneered investigative journalism in 1887 when she went undercover in a women’s asylum on today’s Roosevelt Island in New York City to expose the atrocities inside. Her accounts and book Ten Days in a Madhouse brought about sweeping reforms and created a brave, new journalism. She was also the first woman reporting from the Eastern Front in the First World War.
That we had allowed Bly’s achievements to fade from history fuelled my determination to get her ‘back on the map.’ A journalist myself with an eye for adventure, I decided to re-blaze her global trail to pay tribute to Bly and others like her – women who dismissed the status quo and explored the world.
My own journey began 125 years after Bly’s. Like her, I travelled alone with one small bag. My expedition took me from London, across Europe, throughout Asia, to America where Bly’s travels began and ended in New York City. The result was a book that captures both of our journeys: Following Nellie Bly: Her Record-Breaking Race Around the World.
But the true culmination of my quest to revive Nellie Bly sent me travelling once again, back to New York City and Roosevelt Island. Just steps away from the asylum where investigative journalism was born, Bly made history again last December when a monumental installation honouring her life and legacy, The Girl Puzzle, was unveiled. (see Stanfords blogpost https://blog.stanfords.co.uk/blog/2021/12/18/monumental-tribute-to-pioneer-of-investigative-journalism-nellie-bly/). Nellie Bly’s role in history has at last been acknowledged in a series of remarkable bronze sculptures by Amanda Matthews of Prometheus Art.
Following Nellie Bly: Her Record-Breaking Race Around the World Rosemary J Brown is available for £19.99. All our copies are signed by the author (while stocks last).