Marjory Stoneman Douglas (1890-1998) was a gifted writer and conservationist who is known as “the woman who saved the Everglades."
Marjory Stoneman Douglas (1890-1998) was a gifted writer and conservationist who is known as “the woman who saved the Everglades."
History classes can get a bad rap, and sometimes for good reason. When we were students, we couldn’t help wondering... where were all the ladies at? Why were so many incredible stories missing from the typical curriculum? Enter, Womanica. On this Wonder Media Network podcast we explore the lives of inspiring women in history you may not know about, but definitely should.
Every weekday, listeners explore the trials, tragedies, and triumphs of groundbreaking women throughout history who have dramatically shaped the world around us. In each 5 minute episode, we’ll dive into the story behind one woman listeners may or may not know–but definitely should. These diverse women from across space and time are grouped into easily accessible and engaging monthly themes like Educators, Villains, Indigenous Storytellers, Activists, and many more. Womanica is hosted by WMN co-founder and award-winning journalist Jenny Kaplan. The bite-sized episodes pack painstakingly researched content into fun, entertaining, and addictive daily adventures.
Womanica was created by Liz Kaplan and Jenny Kaplan, executive produced by Jenny Kaplan, and produced by Liz Smith, Grace Lynch, Maddy Foley, Brittany Martinez, Edie Allard, Lindsey Kratochwill, Adesuwa Agbonile, Carmen Borca-Carrillo, Taylor Williamson, and Ale Tejeda. Special thanks to Shira Atkins.
Original theme music composed by Miles Moran.
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Hello! From Wonder Media Network, I’m Grace Lynch, creator and host of the WMN show - As She Rises. For the next two weeks the team behind As She Rises is taking over as your guest hosts for Womanica.
As She Rises is a show that personalizes the climate crisis. This month, for our second season, we’re highlighting stories of climate progress that can help give us the hope we need to keep going. The show features poets and activists much like your Eco Warrior of the day.
Today we’re talking about a gifted writer and conservationist who is known as “the woman who saved the Everglades." Let’s welcome Marjory Stoneman Douglas.
Marjory Stoneman Douglas was born on April 7, 1890 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Her mother was a musician and her father was a writer. Her parents divorced when she was six years old. Marjory and her mom moved to her mother’s hometown in Taunton, Massachusetts where they lived with Marjory’s grandparents. Her father moved to Miami where he founded a newspaper. She wouldn’t see him again until she was 25.
As a child, Marjory was an avid reader and writer. After graduating high school, she attended Wellesley College where she studied English. Soon after her graduation in 1912, her mother fell ill and she quickly returned home to care for her. Her mother died that same year.
After her mother passed, Marjory moved to Newark, New Jersey and worked in a department store. She met and married Kenneth Douglas, an editor for the Newark Evening News. The marriage was short lived, though she kept his last name. They divorced and Marjory moved to Miami to live with her father who was the editor in chief at The Miami Herald, the paper he had started years before. She took a job at the paper as a society reporter. It’s here that she found her voice, writing about women’s rights, environmentalism and the quickening commercial development of Florida.
In 1917, she took a brief break from The Herald to join the U.S. Naval Reserve during World War I. The following year she signed up for the American Red Cross in Europe. She returned to Florida in 1920 and became the assistant editor of the Miami Herald.In her new role, she started a column called “The Galley,” where she covered everything from geography to the plight of women.
A few years later, she left the newspaper to become a freelance writer and author. Over the next two decades she published essays and short stories, frequently appearing in the Saturday Evening Post. She received numerous awards, including second place in the prestigious O' Henry Award and first prize for a play she wrote at Florida's "little-theatre competition". She also joined the faculty at the University of Miami as an associate professor of English.
In the 1940s, Marjory turned her focus to the Everglades. Over the course of five years, she dove into research and writing about a vast patch of wilderness that had wrongfully become characterized as a useless swamp. Unbeknownst to Marjory, her work would have a profound impact on Florida's environmental landscape.
In 1947, she published The Everglades: River of Grass. The book was an instant success, selling out its first printing in just a month. People were captivated by the way she blended science, history and rich imagery to tell the story of a precious ecosystem. Up until this point, the Everglades were considered worthless. Marjory redefined these wetlands as a place of flowing, fresh water, intimately connected to and necessary for the wildlife of the Everglades. She emphasized how draining the swamp could destroy the ecosystem of prospering wildlife.
Marjory’s work to protect the Everglades didn’t stop after she published River of Grass. In the 1950s, she criticized a development project led by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers that threatened the natural cycles of precipitation and evaporation upon which the Everglades depended. Then in 1969, when she was 79 years old, she formed Friends of the Everglades, a grassroots organization. Their first goal was to stop the construction of a jetport that could decimate part of the wetlands.
She traveled across Florida and recruited 3,000 members to join her new organization. They were able to generate enough noise that the project was halted after one runway was built.
Marjory spent the rest of her life and career devoted to conservation and preservation efforts. She campaigned with environmentalists to pass legislation and served on committees to protect national parks and wildlife. She became a fixture in the Florida environmental movement and received numerous awards. In 1993, she was awarded the Medal of Freedom by President Clinton.
On May 14, 1998 at the age of 108, Marjory Stoneman Douglas died quietly at her home in Coconut Grove, Florida. Her ashes were scattered across the Everglades.
For more information and pictures of some of the work we’re talking about, find us on Facebook and Instagram @womanicapodcast.
Check out the second season of As She Rises wherever you’re listening right now.
And special thanks to Jenny and Liz Kaplan for inviting me to guest host this episode.
Talk to you tomorrow!