MARJORY STONEMAN DOUGLAS
Marjory Stoneman Douglas, born April 7, 1890 in Minneapolis, Minnesota,
graduated from Wellesley with straight A's with the elected honor of "Class
Orator." That title proved to be prophetic.
In 1915, following a brief and calamitous marriage, she arrived in Miami,
working for her father at the Miami Herald. She worked first as a society
reporter, then as an editorial page columnist, and later established herself as
a writer of note. Here she took on the fight for feminism, racial justice, and
conservation long before these causes became popular.
She was ahead of her time in recognizing her need for independence and solitude,
yet never considered herself entirely a feminist, saying: "I'd like to hear less
talk about men and women and more talk about citizens."
Her book, The Everglades: River of Grass, published in 1947 -- the year
Everglades National Park was established -- has become the definitive
description of the natural treasure she fought so hard to protect. After several
reprints, the revised edition was published in 1987, to draw attention to the
continuing threats -- unresolved -- to "her river."
In the 1950s, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers rose to the top of her list of
enemies. In a major construction program, a complex system of canals, levees,
dams, and pump stations was built to provide protection from seasonal flooding
to former marsh land -- now being used for agriculture and real estate
development. Long before scientists became alarmed about the effects on the
natural ecosystems of south Florida, Mrs. Douglas was railing at officials for
destroying wetlands, eliminating sheetflow of water, and upsetting the natural
cycles upon which the entire system depends.
Early on, she recognized that the Everglades was a system which depended not
only on the flow of water from Lake Okeechobee into the park, but also upon the
Kissimmee River which feeds the lake. To add a voting constituency to her
efforts, in 1970 she formed the Friends of the Everglades, and until recently
remained active at the head of the organization.
In his introduction to her autobiography Voice of the River (1987), John
Rothchild describes her appearance in 1973 at a public meeting in Everglades
City: "Mrs. Douglas was half the size of her fellow speakers and she wore huge
dark glasses, which along with the huge floppy hat made her look like Scarlet O'Hara
as played by Igor Stravinsky. When she spoke, everybody stopped slapping [mosquitoes]
and more or less came to order. She reminded us all of our responsibility to
nature and I don't remember what else. Her voice had the sobering effect of a
one-room schoolmarm's. The tone itself seemed to tame the rowdiest of the local
stone crabbers, plus the developers, and the lawyers on both sides. I wonder if
it didn't also intimidate the mosquitoes. . . . The request for a Corps of
Engineers permit was eventually turned down. This was no surprise to those of us
who'd heard her speak."
Died 14 May 1998
Marjory Stoneman Douglas, born April 7, 1890 in Minneapolis, Minnesota,
graduated from Wellesley with straight A's with the elected honor of "Class
Orator." That title proved to be prophetic.
In 1915, following a brief and calamitous marriage, she arrived in Miami,
working for her father at the Miami Herald. She worked first as a society
reporter, then as an editorial page columnist, and later established herself as
a writer of note. Here she took on the fight for feminism, racial justice, and
conservation long before these causes became popular.
She was ahead of her time in recognizing her need for independence and solitude,
yet never considered herself entirely a feminist, saying: "I'd like to hear less
talk about men and women and more talk about citizens."
Her book, The Everglades: River of Grass, published in 1947 -- the year
Everglades National Park was established -- has become the definitive
description of the natural treasure she fought so hard to protect. After several
reprints, the revised edition was published in 1987, to draw attention to the
continuing threats -- unresolved -- to "her river."
In the 1950s, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers rose to the top of her list of
enemies. In a major construction program, a complex system of canals, levees,
dams, and pump stations was built to provide protection from seasonal flooding
to former marsh land -- now being used for agriculture and real estate
development. Long before scientists became alarmed about the effects on the
natural ecosystems of south Florida, Mrs. Douglas was railing at officials for
destroying wetlands, eliminating sheetflow of water, and upsetting the natural
cycles upon which the entire system depends.
Early on, she recognized that the Everglades was a system which depended not
only on the flow of water from Lake Okeechobee into the park, but also upon the
Kissimmee River which feeds the lake. To add a voting constituency to her
efforts, in 1970 she formed the Friends of the Everglades, and until recently
remained active at the head of the organization.
In his introduction to her autobiography Voice of the River (1987), John
Rothchild describes her appearance in 1973 at a public meeting in Everglades
City: "Mrs. Douglas was half the size of her fellow speakers and she wore huge
dark glasses, which along with the huge floppy hat made her look like Scarlet O'Hara
as played by Igor Stravinsky. When she spoke, everybody stopped slapping [mosquitoes]
and more or less came to order. She reminded us all of our responsibility to
nature and I don't remember what else. Her voice had the sobering effect of a
one-room schoolmarm's. The tone itself seemed to tame the rowdiest of the local
stone crabbers, plus the developers, and the lawyers on both sides. I wonder if
it didn't also intimidate the mosquitoes. . . . The request for a Corps of
Engineers permit was eventually turned down. This was no surprise to those of us
who'd heard her speak."
Died 14 May 1998