Marjory Stoneman Douglas
Personal Information
Born: 1890
Died: 1998
Country of Birth: USA
Nationality: USA
Ethnicity: White
Education
Wellesley college BA English 1912
""It is a woman's business to be interested in the environment. It's an extended form of housekeeping." (Wikipedia); "To be a friend of the Everglades is not necessarily to spend time wandering around out there ... It's too buggy, too wet, too generally inhospitable" (Wikipedia); "Why should they have a Women's Hall of Fame, as I heard they wanted to put me in the other day? Why not a Citizens' Hall of Fame?" (Wikipedia);"People can't be rude to me, this poor little old woman. But I can be rude to them, poor darlings, and nobody can stop me."(Wikipedia); “There was no organized environmental movement until the late 1960s, and little understanding of what ecology is about. Back in the 1920s, a few of us sensed that water was the key to the health of the Everglades, so perhaps we were untutored environmentalists even then.” (biography.com); "I'd like to hear less talk about men and women and more talk about citizens."(nps.gov); "
— Marjory Stoneman Douglas
Professional Life
Field of Study: Journalism; conservationist
Institution/Corporation: Wellesley College; University of Miami; Friends of the Everglades
Degrees & Memberships: Member: Board of Fairchild Garden; Coconut Grove Slum clearance Committee (1948); Board of Everglades Tropical National Park committee; ACLU; Friends of the Everglades
Awards & Achievements
Awards: 1993 Presidentyial Medal of Freedom; 1999 National wildlife Federation Hall of Fame; 2000 National women's Hall of Fame; 1986 Florida Women's Hall of fame; 1928 2nd Place O Henry Memorial Prize for Short Stories; 1975 Conservationist of the Year, Florida audobon society; 1975 conservationist of the Year, Florida Wildlife Federation; 1977 Alumnae Achievement Award, Wellesley college; 1989 Honorary Vice President Sierra Club; 1912 Class Orator, Wellesley College
Achievements: defended the Everglades against efforts to drain it & reclaim the land for development; wrote "Everglades: River of Grass" published in 1947;supported women's suffrage & the civil rights movements; her memoire "Voice of the River" was published 1987 & was dedicated to Massachusetts
known as the Rachel Carson of the Everglades, the Mother of the Everglades & the Guardian of the Glades
several schools & parks in Florida are named after her
wrote over 100 short stories & several books
one of her earliest memories was of her farher reading her the Song of Hiawatha & crying when she learned the tree had sacrificed itself so Hiawatha had wood for his canoe
her 1st book was Alice's Adventures in wonderland& she kept it "until some fiend in human form must have borrowed it & not brought it back (Wikipedia)
suffered from night terrors after her parents divorced when she was 6 & she & her mother went to live in Massachusetts with her maternal aunt & grandparents who were contentious & often disparaged her father
was 1st published at age 16in St. Nicholas Magazine & in 1907 received a prize from the Boston Herald for a story she wrote about a boy watching a sunrise from a canoe
her father founded & was publisher of a newspaper that later became The Miami Herald, she joined the staff in 1915
1917 was the 1st Florida woman to join the Naval Reserved, was discharged after 1 year & joined the Red Cross & was stationed in Paris
1930s wrote some 1 act plays for the Miami theater
Mother had mental health issues & was institutionalized on several occasions
had 3 episodes of nervous exhaustion/breakdowns with the last occuring in 1941
was blind & almost totally deaf in her older years
never learned to drive or owned a car
with the help of friends designed her home in Coconut Grove & it had no air conditioning, electric stove, or a dishwasher
was married for approximately 1 year to a mann 30 years her senior who was after her father's money, served time in custody for writing fraudulent checks with her signature, & was already married when he married her
the Florida Dept of Environmental Protection headquarters in Tallahassee is named after her as is an award given by the National Parks conservation Association
1991 was visited by Queen Elizabeth & gave her an autographed copy of her book, The Everglades: A river of Grass
for her birthday would request people planted trees instead of giving her gifts & this resulted in 100,0-00 trees being planted across Florida
a wilderness area in the Everglades National Park was named after her in 1997 & her ashes were scattered there
2015 her Coconut Grove home was designated a National Historic Landmark
donated her Medal of Freedom to Wellesley College