Impact
"The Asylum, from Road to Steamboat Landing, New York Public Library Digital Collection
"Take a perfectly sane and healthy woman, shut her up and make her sit from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. on straight-back benches, do not allow her to talk or move during these hours . . . give her bad food and harsh treatment, and see how long it will take to make her insane."
~Nellie Bly, "Behind Asylum Bars"
"Sept. 23, 1887--Bly stays at a boarding house for women in New York City and pretends to be mentally ill."
"Sept. 24, 1887--She is taken by police to a judge, who sends her to Bellevue Hospital for a mental health exam."
"Sept. 25, 1887--Bly is given more medical exams at Bellevue and spends another night there".
"Sept. 26, 1887--Bly is transported by boat to the Blackwell's Island insane asylum, where about 1,600 patients live. She resumes her normal behavior for the rest of her stay there."
"Sept. 26-Oct. 6, 1887--In her time as a patient at Blackwell's Island, Bly is forced to take ice-cold baths; locked in a small cell for the night; witness to staff choking, beating and abusing patients; and ignored by doctors when she explains that she is not insane."
"Oct. 6, 1887--At the request of a lawyer for The World, Bly is released from the asylum."
"Two Weeks Later--After her reports are published, Bly returns to Blackwell's Island, this time accompanying members of a grand jury investigating conditions there."
(Timeline text quoted from “Ten Days in a Mad-House.” Checkology, News Literacy Project)
(Illustrations from Bly's "Ten Days in a Mad-House")
(Newspaper article from Bly's "Behind Asylum Bars")