“What Girls Are Good For” - Pittsburgh, 1880s

In 1885, a Pittsburgh journalist wrote an article about women and their role in society - it argued that their only purpose was to get pregnant and keep up with the laundry. One reader was so angry with this that she wrote a retort to the editor arguing that women should be given more employment opportunities. The editor agreed and offered a young Nellie Bly her first job as a journalist. From there, Bly never stopped – from ridiculing a Mexican dictator, to exposing American CEOs and challenging the very fabric of US society. There was no stopping her. Bly once wrote, “I have never had but one desire, and that was to benefit humanity.” This is her story.