When you think of undercover reporting, what comes to mind? The image I once conjured up was a guy in a trench coat and a fedora lurking behind corners. That is, until I learned about the late-19th and early 20th-century reporters known as the “stunt girls.”
These intrepid young women pioneered the practice of underground investigative reporting. On Literary Ladies Guide we honor novelists, nonfiction authors, and poets of the past, but journalists are writers, too — among the gutsiest.
From early American newspapers to broadcast news, women have had to fight for the right to report. But no matter what barriers stood in their way, women found a way around them or blasted through them. The stunt girls were one of the youngest cohorts of barrier-blasters.
Though their melodramatic reporting was eventually frowned upon, it evolved into the kind of investigative journalism that became respected and remains necessary to this day. The stunt girls’ writing style was over the top, but the scandals and injustices they uncovered were real. In many cases, their reporting led to lasting change supported by Congress and the courts.
The birth of the “stunt girl” reporter
In 1887, a small-town girl from Pennsylvania arrived in New York City with the burning ambition of becoming a star reporter. Elizabeth Cochrane changed her name to Nellie Bly and would become the first stunt girl reporter, inspiring other young women of her time to go undercover.
Using secret identities like “Dorothy Dare” and “Florence Noble,” this new breed of female reporter tackled subjects considered “unfit for ladies.” Newspaper readers devoured their exposés on the plights of factory workers (including children), the mentally ill, disaster victims, and immigrants.
After Nellie Bly’s explosive 1887 “Ten Days in a Madhouse” series appeared in Pulitzer’s New York World, every major newspaper wanted a stunt girl on staff. Young women reporters risked life and limb for the juiciest scoops. The shocking stories they wrote captured readers’ imaginations — and sold a ton of newspapers.
Nellie Bly (1864 - 1922)
Nellie Bly was the nom de plume taken by Elizabeth Cochrane when she arrived in New York City at age twenty-two. She’d already investigated Pittsburgh’s factories, and what she’d seen had made her angry. It confirmed her belief that witnessing and reporting were the pave stones to truth.
As a newly hired reporter for the New York World, she was pushed into society and theater pages. But that wasn’t what she’d come to New York to write about.
In 1887, Nellie convinced her editor to let her investigate the Women's Lunatic Asylum on Blackwell’s Island. She pretended to be insane so she’d be committed as a patient. Her series on the brutal conditions she saw and experienced — “Ten Days in a Madhouse” — is still considered a groundbreaking work of investigative journalism.
Nellie Bly's travel adventures inspired a board game
Two years later, Nellie got Joseph Pulitzer to fund a trip around the world. She planned to follow the footsteps of the fictional Phileas Fogg, hero of Around the World in Eighty Days by Jules Verne. She beat the record, traveling nearly 25,000 miles in seventy-two days.
This stunt didn’t change anyone’s life, but her exciting travelogs made her world-famous. Nellie now had more power to do the kind of reporting she felt was important — hard-news exposés about women’s prisons, labor issues, abandoned children, sexual harassment, and more.
More about Nellie Bly
In Search of Nellie Bly: America's Pioneering Investigative Journalist
Nellie Bly Makes the News, a colorful and fun animated introduction to this amazing journalist.
Winifred Sweet Bonfils Black (1863 - 1926)
Winifred Sweet Bonfils Black was the original “sob sister” — a name for female reporters who wrote human interest stories with enough drama and emotion to make readers weep.
Another pioneer of undercover journalism, Winifred was just a year younger than Nellie Bly, and was inspired by the latter’s daring and sense of adventure.
She especially liked covering murder trials and interviewing famous people. Once, after being denied an interview with President Benjamin Harrison, she hid under his railroad dining car and cornered him when he sat down to dinner.
One of her famous stunts involved throwing herself under a truck in San Francisco and pretending to faint. Instead of her trademark elegant dresses, she wore shabby clothes. Taken to a nearby hospital, she was assumed to be poor and took secret notes on how she was treated — or rather, mistreated. When her series was published, the entire hospital staff was fired.
Winifred also went undercover to report on natural disasters, including the Galveston flood of 1900. Women reporters weren’t allowed, so she disguised herself as a boy. She exposed conditions in juvenile courts, cotton mills, canneries, and more.
Her articles resulted in improved conditions for workers as well as better emergency and disaster relief. By the time of her death, Winifred was a respected journalist — no longer dismissed as a “stunt girl” or “sob sister.”
Eva McDonald Valesh (1866 - 1956)
Eva McDonald Valesh posed as a worker to expose unsafe working conditions in factories
Eva McDonald Valesh came to her interest in journalism early. Growing up in Minnesota, she worked as a typesetter in a print shop, which was unusual for a young woman. She also joined a typographer’s union — even more unusual.
As a young reporter for the twin cities’ Globe, she posed as a worker at a local garment factory. Under the name “Eva Gay,” she wrote articles on female workers’ long hours, low wages, and unhealthy conditions in the factory. Her reports inspired a successful strike for better pay and working conditions.
When Eva’s exposés started to gain attention, employers in the Minnesota area became wary, not wanting to be fooled by her. But even with her unique tomboy looks and ragged costumes, she never failed to slip under the radar to get her stories.
Through her investigations as a stunt girl reporter, Eva created lasting improvements for factory, domestic, and service workers. When that phase of her career was over, she got involved in the Minnesota labor movement and led the campaign for an 8-hour workday — something we now take for granted.
The only time Eva slowed down was when she nearly died giving birth to her only child. For the rest of her long life, she proudly supported labor causes as a passionate speaker and writer.
More "stunt girl" reporters
And though this is by no means an exhaustive list, here are more investigative journalists who were considered "stunt girls" of their time:
Elizabeth Banks ("Mary Mortimer Maxwell")
Nixola Greeley-Smith
Ada Patterson
Helen Cusack (“Nell Nelson”)
Nora Marks
Winifred Mulcahey
Elizabeth Jordan
“Florence Noble”
“Dorothy Dare”
Eleanor Stackhouse
I'm so inspired! The OG Badasses.
This is great, Nava! Look forward to hearing more. Younger sisters of my group…