Elizabeth Cochran
Elizabeth Jane Cochran was born on May 5, 1864 in the small Pennsylvanian town of Cochran’s Mills. The town was founded after her father who was the town judge and also a prominent land owner. When Elizabeth was just six years old she lost her father so she pledged that she would go to school to be able to help out with finances because her mom was now a single mother. Her plans were cut short due to her mother moving the family to Pittsburgh and ran a boarding house with her mom.
In the early 1880s Elizabeth, who was just 18 sent an angry letter to the Pittsburgh Dispatch after a claimed that women were better off living a life of service in a home cooking, cleaning and raising children than in the work place. In his opinion he called working …show more content…
She did undercover work to expose the poor working conditions faced by women in sweatshops.
By 1887 Nellie had relocated to New York City to further her career and getting a job at the New York World. She was assigned to do a story on the service and conditions that patients endure of a mental hospital on what is now called Roosevelt Island. She took the opportunity to do undercover work and spent ten days posing as a mental patient.
After her time in the mental institution, her reporting opened up all sorts of investigations into the mental institution and how the conditions are and how the patients are treated. As a result more funding became available for the care of the patients and also more doctor appointments for overseeing health care workers and nurses and finally providing regulations that prevent overcrowding. With her investigative approach to journalism she did more undercover work exposing corruption in sweat shops, jails and even in the legislature. The series she wrote for the World was so popular that the next year it was published in a book called Ten Day in a Mad-House, published in New York by Ian L.
In the early 1880s Elizabeth, who was just 18 sent an angry letter to the Pittsburgh Dispatch after a claimed that women were better off living a life of service in a home cooking, cleaning and raising children than in the work place. In his opinion he called working …show more content…
She did undercover work to expose the poor working conditions faced by women in sweatshops.
By 1887 Nellie had relocated to New York City to further her career and getting a job at the New York World. She was assigned to do a story on the service and conditions that patients endure of a mental hospital on what is now called Roosevelt Island. She took the opportunity to do undercover work and spent ten days posing as a mental patient.
After her time in the mental institution, her reporting opened up all sorts of investigations into the mental institution and how the conditions are and how the patients are treated. As a result more funding became available for the care of the patients and also more doctor appointments for overseeing health care workers and nurses and finally providing regulations that prevent overcrowding. With her investigative approach to journalism she did more undercover work exposing corruption in sweat shops, jails and even in the legislature. The series she wrote for the World was so popular that the next year it was published in a book called Ten Day in a Mad-House, published in New York by Ian L.