A supporter of women journalists, Eliza was rightfully named the president of the Women’s National Press Association. Elizabeth (Eliza) Jane Poitevent was born on March 11, 1849 in Hancock County, Mississippi not too far from the Louisiana border. The transition to life without her mother landed her in the timeworn Crosby Mansion, giving her the opportunity to surround herself with wildlife and creativity. As a teenager, Eliza dabbled in the composing of serious poetry under the pen name Pearl Rivers.
At fifteen years old, Eliza gathered her poetry books and brought them along with her creativity, to Amite Female Seminary in Louisiana. There she studied reading, writing, a little arithmetic and practiced music. A year after graduating in 1867, she achieved her first success in her writing career when one f her poems made it to The South—a Louisiana magazine. Eliza’s poem continued to be published in magazines and newspapers such as the New York Home Journal. The New Orleans Daily Picayune published “A Chirp from Mother Robin” on March 22, 1868. A month later, her poem “The Workman’s Goodbye” was featured on page one of the Daily Picayune, ultimately claiming her place in the Picayune for the rest of her life.
The owner of the Daily Picayune, Colonel Alva Morris Holbrook offered young Eliza a position as literary editor at twenty five dollars per week. However, Eliza’s family disapproved for they did not believe in a traditional southern woman working for money. Despite their refusal, Eliza took the job and moved to New Orleans in 1870. Eliza then became the first woman to work as a journalist on a Louisiana newspaper staff.
Two years later she married Holbrook, the owner/editor of the Picayune. She continued to write for the Picayune while writing for her volume of poetry titled Lyrics. An unfortunate turn in Holbrook’s health occurred four years after their marriage leaving The Daily Picayune and its eighty thousand of debt to her as well—ultimately making Eliza the first female owner and publisher of a major metropolitan newspaper in the United States.
Eliza was able to pay off the newspaper’s debt and in the midst of it all, find love again with the Picayune’s astute business manager George Nicholson. To make the paper family orientated, Eliza added sections for women and children, which established the Picayune as the city’s primary news source. In addition to fashion, medical advice, and household hints, the Society Bee was added to the Picayune. The bee disclosed personal information which was criticized by New Orleans’s elite, but praised by the average citizens, and became the largest section of the Sunday paper.
Not only did Eliza contribute to New Orleans by writing, she also contributed by setting up news bureaus in other cities to advocate against animal cruelty. She supported civic reform, modernity in the city, rallied for better pay for educators, and advocated for night classes and a hospital annex for ill children. Construction of a library began in 1881 and opened in 1895 after the death of she and her husband. Eliza successfully campaigned for public monuments of war heroes, founded the Southern Historical Society and supported the French Opera House. In 1885, the Women’s National Press Association was founded in New Orleans with Eliza as its first president; three years later the organization’s name was changed to Women’s International Press Association. She also found time to create a chapter of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and held national office in the Humane Society. At her newspaper office, Eliza established a policy of equal pay for equal work. Eliza Nicholson also founded the Ladies New Orleans Pacific Railroad Aid Association to encourage private subscriptions to complete the railroad line, giving her the honor of naming two spurs on the line.
In 1895, both Eliza and her husband were stricken with a deathly strain of influenza. Eliza Nicholson worked hard establishing and maintaining her name in the journalism world so that her name would live forever once she was no longer a part of this life, which she has indeed done so.
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Eliza Nicholson—Pioneering Newspaperwoman
November 17, 2015
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