Honoring Nellie Bly

A worthy addition to the city’s welcoming committee

Nellie Bly will soon join the welcoming committee at Pittsburgh International Airport — presently composed of Steelers great Franco Harris and founding father George Washington — as a lifelike statue of the pioneering investigative journalist and world traveler. Her statue is scheduled to be unveiled later this month.

The installation of the Bly figure, facilitated by a partnership between the Heinz History Center and the Allegheny County Airport Authority, will celebrate Women’s History Month and the 100th anniversary of women’s suffrage. But the statue will also serve as a lasting tribute to one of journalism’s most important figures and one of Pittsburgh’s most accomplished children.

Ms. Bly’s most famous works — an undercover expose of a mental asylum and a 72-day trip around the world — came after she left her hometown. But Ms. Bly’s trailblazing spirit, which made her the bestknown female journalist of her day and a lasting figure in the field, was born in Pittsburgh.

Her passion and civic concern took flight when the 18-year-old Bly, then going by her birth name Elizabeth Cochran, wrote an impassioned letter to the Pittsburgh Dispatch. She took umbrage with a column titled “What Girls Are Good For,” which argued that working women were immoral and should be relegated to child-rearing and housework. Ms. Bly was determined to prove that writer wrong.

That letter captured the attention of the paper’s editor, who offered her a job. Ms. Bly made the most of the opportunity, building a name for herself writing about the conditions working women experienced in the city.

This work established her lifelong mission of shining a light on injustice and trying to make a difference — the hallmarks of important journalism. Ms. Bly proved that a woman from steel country was capable of anything if given the opportunity.

Ms. Bly will now take a wellearned place alongside the statues of Mr. Harris and President Washington, affording millions of travelers the opportunity to learn more about this towering figure in American journalism and Pittsburgh history.