On this episode of Our American Stories, in 1890, Nellie Bly completed a journey that seemed almost impossible, circling the globe in just 72 days. Inspired by Jules Verne's Around the World in Eighty Days, Bly traveled by ship, train, horse, rickshaw, and more, even stopping in France to meet Verne himself. But her famous race around the world was only one chapter in the remarkable life of one of America's most fearless journalists.

Born Elizabeth Jane Cochran in Pennsylvania, Bly challenged expectations about what women could do, reported on the lives of factory workers, confronted political repression in Mexico, and famously went undercover inside a New York City mental asylum to expose the horrific treatment of its patients. Our own Lee Habeeb shares the story of the pioneering reporter, adventurer, inventor, and businesswoman who refused to accept the limits placed on women in her time.

Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate)