
Marjory Stoneman Douglas
Everglades conservationist
Marjory Stoneman Douglas always had a way with words. A prolific writer in every genre, Marjory's witty, insightful prose won her many followers. Over her century-long career, she lent her voice to a huge array of progressive causes. But, it would ultimately have the biggest impact in an unexpected arena...environmentalism.
Asked to write a book on the Miami River, Marjory instead introduced the public to the wonders of the Everglades. Her efforts raised the region from little-known swamp to subject of one of the world's largest environmental restoration projects. Today, this "Grandmother of the Glades" offers an urgent reminder to protect nature's beauty + balance for future generations.
endearing the public to the Everglades | setting the stage for conservation efforts
kicking off the US Environmental Movement
her long career | living to be 108
writing | articles, editorials, short stories, pamphlets, poems, one acts, reviews, novels, creative non-fiction...
The Galley | her 1920s daily editorial column in The Miami Herald that earned her a large local following
service | from joining the Red Cross during WWI to founding the Friends of the Everglades at age 79 {which gained 3000 members in 3 years}
taking on big business | fighting for restrictions on damaging development
1928 | came in 2nd after being nominated for the prestigious O. Henry literary award for her short story, "Peculiar Treasure of a King"
1947 | published her most famous work after 5 years of research ~ The Everglades: River of Grass ~ which is credited with changing public perception about the ecosystem from a worthless swamp to an environmental lynchpin worth saving
1993 | awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Bill Clinton for her sustained efforts to protect + restore Florida's unique ecosystems
from | to
society columnist | leading conservationist + the voice of the Everglades
born on
April 7, 1890
born in
Minneapolis, Minnesota
birth name
Marjory Stoneman
nickname | also known as
Grand Dame or Grandmother of the Everglades
citizen of
The United States of America
daughter of
Lillian Trefethen
~ concert violinist who suffered from mental health issues ~
Frank Bryant Stoneman
~ entrepreneur + newspaper publisher ~
~ the 2 separated when Marjory was 6 ~
sister of
only child
grew up in
her grandparents' home in Taunton, Massachusetts
educated at
Wellesley College
~ Wellesley, Massachusetts | BA in English | 1912 ~
loved studying
literature
elocution
married to | divorced from
Kenneth Douglas
~ a con man 30 years her senior | married 1914 - 1915 ~
advocate for | influenced by
women's suffrage + the ERA
civil rights
ACLU
environmentalism
Everglades preservation + restoration
died on
May 14, 1998
~ in Coconut Grove, Miami, Florida ~
image credit
collapse bio bits"We are beginning to think that the people who, in this late day, insist on saying that woman's place is in the home, must be housing profiteers."
The Gallery | 1920
"Suffrage may have permitted women to become candidates for office but it is the high cost of millinery that is keeping their hats out of the ring."
The Gallery | 1920
"She had maintained herself, like an old pine through many burning, by the enduring soundness of its own wood."
Pineland | 1925
"They were endlessly alike, endlessly monotonous, and yet with an endless charm and variety. Every tree held its own twist and pattern; every tree, even to the distant intermingled brown of trunks too far away to distinguish, were infinitely itself."
Pineland | 1925
"There are no other Everglades in the world. They are, they have always been, one of the unique regions of the earth, remote, never wholly known."
The Everglades: River of Grass | 1947
"The miracle of the light pours over the green and brown expanse of saw grass and of water, shining and slow-moving below, the grass and water that is the meaning and the central fact of the Everglades of Florida. It is a river of grass."
The Everglades: River of Grass | 1947
"I never was a good reporter. Father used to send me out on a story and I'd come back with three sunsets and an editorial."
Marjory Stoneman Douglas: Prolific Writer Gives Her Life and Energy to Pursuit of Excellence | march 1978
"It is a woman's business to be interested in the environment. It's an extended form of housekeeping."
TIME Magazine | 1983
"Time, the heavens, the galaxies, it goes far beyond our ability to understand it, and I'm not even going to try."
Voice of the River | 1987
"I believe that life should be lived so vividly and so intensely that thoughts of another life, or of a longer life, are not necessary."
Voice of the River | 1987
"I couldn't write in that bare, stark way in which a story begins like a slap in the face."
Voice of the River | 1987
for further reading about Marjory Stoneman Douglas:
curated with care by Alicia Williamson {october 2014}
Portrait of Marjory Stoneman
This portrait of Marjory Stoneman was taken during her senior year in college, before she bore her married name. After graduating from Wellesley College with a degree in English in 1912, she married Kenneth Douglas in 1914. The marriage was unhappy and short-lived; in 1915, the divorced Marjory moved to Miami, where she began her career as a reporter in her father's newspaper.
State Archives of Florida | public domain
Douglas' WWI Naval Service Card
In 1917, Marjory was working as a reporter for her father's newspaper, what would eventually become The Miami Herald. She was sent on assignment to interview the first woman from Miami to join the Naval Forces. However, when the woman in question neglected to turn up, she instead found herself becoming the first Miami woman to join the Navy as a Yeoman. During the war, Marjory left the Navy to serve in the American Red Cross, stationed in Paris.
State Archives of Florida | public domain
Douglas signs autographs
In 1947, Marjory's book The Everglades: River of Grass was published to great success. The book, which coincided with the opening of the Everglades National Park, helped propel a conservationist movement in Florida. Though she published many other works of both fiction and nonfiction, The Everglades: River of Grass was Marjory's most successful book.
State Archives of Florida | public domain
Douglas at Department of Natural Resources naming ceremony
Though Marjory's ceaseless conservation efforts were not met without opponents, her work was also recognized frequently, especially in her adopted home state of Florida. In the above photo, Marjory attends a naming ceremony for the Florida Department of Natural Resources Headquarters building {now the Florida Department of Environmental Protection Headquarters} named in her honor.
State Archives of Florida | public domain