The Start of Something New

 Jan 18th 1908

This is the beginning of my personal blog. Miss Perry, my English teacher, has instructed us to practice our writing by laying out important parts of our life in a sort of personal catalog. 

I am up for the challenge. Since I did so well in my high school English course, I was enrolled directly into English 12, an accelerated course with a lot of special work for people who were going to major in English composition, as I did. (1. pg70)

While I'm not fond of Miss Perry, I believe this project may be one of her better ideas. Her first assignment was to write a letter home. I wrote my letter, and Miss Perry said it wasn't the kind of writing you'd use for such a letter. She was completely wrong - letter writing is entirely free. (1. pg70) Miss Perry had me read it aloud to the class as a bad example, but resulted in a resounding applause from the rest of the class. From that day forward, I had established my reputation as a writer.

I'm enjoying myself at Wellesley college so far. As a woman's college, I find the environment free from boys to be comfortable compared to the mixed hallways of Massachusetts public high school. It frees me from the presence of boys, which made me very self conscious. Since I am still unattractive to them, at least at Wellesley they aren't around to remind me of it. I can be myself as an individual, as opposed to a young girl. There are no men to take over. And they do take over, bless their hearts, they've always had to take over, they're out there in front, in the cold as it were, sticking their necks out. When men are in an institution, they tend to dominate it. It's in their nature. I don't object to it, it's just that they can't help it. From childhood they are brought up to be competitive, always comparing themselves to one another. Girls are not brought up to be competitive, unless you consider their attractiveness to males, but that is a side issue as far as individuality is concerned. (1. pg72)

I think I may join the Legenda Board. They are in charge of writing and editing the yearly book the college produces each year, highlighting the various clubs and activities. Sophie Hart, the head of the English department, has been a great inspiration for me. Along with Katherine Lee Bates, they keep the department running to their own high standards.

1. Douglas, Marjory Stoneman, and John Rothchild. Marjory Stoneman Douglas: Voice of the River: An Autobiography. Pineapple Press, 1990. 

Out Into the World

 June 18th 1912 (1. pg1)

I nearly forgot about this blog I started back in English 12 with Miss Perry. With how busy I've been between college and trips home to visit my mother, it doesn't feel like it's been nearly 4 years since my last update. I imagine I'll find the time to continue my personal writing when the inspiration strikes me.

I graduated from Wellesley today. You can find my name listed 3 times in the Legenda, my mark on the history of this wonderful school. 

One of the clubs that didn't make the cut for the Legenda is the Suffrage Club, which I helped Myra Morgan start in my junior year. There were only 6 of us total, hardly a club in the eyes of the yearbook. Suffrage was scorned by many people, but I was always for it. My grandmother was for it as well. Miss Hamer, the wonderful high school Latin teacher, had said it was intolerable that some stupid little boy in her class who couldn't learn the first conjunction would soon grow up and have the vote while she did not. She was so right. (3. pg78)

One of the strangest classes during my studies was our sex education classes during my Junior and Senior year. I wouldn't call it sex education. It was really just education on pregnancy and nothing about what comes before hand. In zoology they did go into detail about copulation for earthworms and frogs. They say it's a secret process, and a secret it remains except that I know it requires a male and female. I think it may have something to do with the navel. (3. pg72)

Most of my friends know exactly what they're going to do with their life now that we've graduated. Carolyn, my best friend since high school, is going to become a school teacher. Sally is planning to continue her education and get an MA in chemistry, then settle down for a good married life. Grandma always wanted me to be a teacher or musician (she tried her hardest to get me to learn piano, but I had no interest.)  Teaching is the last thing I want to do, I hate the idea. But I also don't want to go to a private school, that would require moving further away from my mother, and she's already in poor health. I just received news today that her breast cancer has metastasized to her spine. I'm quite worried about what I'll do after commencement. For now, I'm making my way back home to be with my mother.(3. pg81)

1. “Wellesley College Commencement Program 1912.” Wellesley College Digital Repository, 1912, repository.wellesley.edu/object/wellesley31431.

2. Photo “The Wellesley Legenda 1912.” Wellesley.edu, 2023, repository.wellesley.edu/object/wellesley624. Accessed 2 Dec. 2023.

3. Douglas, Marjory Stoneman, and John Rothchild. Marjory Stoneman Douglas: Voice of the River: An Autobiography. Pineapple Press, 1990. 

Making a Living

 December 2nd 1913

I'm am now living in Newark New Jersey. This is the first time in my life I have been completely lonely. 

Last year, I was living in St Louis, the same town as Carolyn, my childhood best friend. She had accepted a teaching job at a private school, and I managed to find an opening at a department store called Nugent's  and moved out to be with her. My job was to make out sales slips, and to teach the cash girls some grammar. Hardly the job I wanted, but the $15 a week they paid took care of room and board with a little left over for cloths. (1. pg82)

My mother passed away shortly after I returned from college. She went into a merciful coma and passed just 3 weeks before I was scheduled to move to Boston. My good friend, D.Q. Applegate had found a training program for women that wanted to train girls and do personal work in department stores. I had hoped to take the course and travel back and forth to see my mother, but that was no longer necessary. 

After the funeral, D.Q. Applegate arranged for me to borrow some money to pay part of the rent and fees in Boston. I regret to say that I gave my family the impression that I had a scholarship. (1. pg82) My mothers side of the family had always looked down on those that needed to borrow money. My family was glad that I was doing something, but I felt numb that whole summer. The only light within the foreign state of mind was that I was that I had escaped the house and all the memories associated with it. 

Shortly after I moved out to St Louise, Carolyn went back to her family in New York. I was left alone in the hottest summer I've ever experienced. Feeling upset with my life, not sure what I was doing, a misfit with a job. 

When I found the job posting in Newark, I applied immediately, and was hired as the educational director for Bamberger's, another department store. And now I'm here, teaching, the one thing I didn't want to do. But at least it's an escape from St Louis. 

1. Douglas, Marjory Stoneman, and John Rothchild. Marjory Stoneman Douglas: Voice of the River: An Autobiography. Pineapple Press, 1990. 

2. Photo: Valerie Battle Kienzle. Lost St. Louis. Arcadia Publishing, 13 Nov. 2017.

Mrs. Douglas

September 22nd 1914

I have been hiding my new marriage from my family, and since I have few friends to keep this secret, I figured my blog would be a great place to write down my thoughts. 

I first met Kenneth through my coworker, Paula Laddie. Mr. Douglas was about six feet tall, thin and intelligent looking, an ordinary dresser with good manners, and at least 30 years older than me. (1. pg84) He was a pleasant man, an editor for the Newark Evening News. After our first introduction, I didn't expect to know him any further than an acquaintance, but that changed when we happened to see each other at the library. We exchanged pleasantries, and as I started to walk away he spoke to me again. This was a new experience for me, no man had ever given me the time of time up until this point. After that he began calling me up, coming to the store, and asking me for lunch. This was bizarre and also spectacular. Within 3 months we were married. 

I almost didn't say yes when he proposed to me in the lobby of my apartment. The last 3 months were so full of sheer delight, I was overwhelmed, how could I say no? (1. pg48)

Off to Florida

 October 27th 1915

A great deal has happened since my last update. 

I will be leaving for Florida shortly to meet up with my father. Our relationship has been non existent ever since my mother moved us away from him when I was little. My father had encountered some business problems and filed for bankruptcy, something my well brought up mother just couldn't live with anymore. 

Kenneth and I had encountered some money problems as well. Ever since he went to jail over a bad check (possibly from a campaign to discredit him after stirring up a story with a powerful ministerial group) it was difficult for him to find any work. We moved from town to town, Kenneth finding odd jobs here and there, but never making enough to settle down. One day he asked me to sign a letter, and I did so without question.

Eventually Kenneth left me at the house of a retired minister he knew and left to find more work. While I was there, I was reacquainted with my Uncle Ned (my fathers brother) who was visiting Newport on a diagnostic mission. Long story short, the letter Kenneth had asked me to sign was a bank draft that took money from my father's account. Kenneth had been using the money for drinking and traveling while I waited for things to get back to normal. Uncle Ned was here to find me asses the situation, as well as extend an invitation to me to join him in Florida if I chose to do so. 

I knew I couldn't go on living the way I'd been living. So I told Uncle Ned that I thought it would be better if I returned to my father, but I'd have to tell my husband. Uncle Ned went over the legal ramifications with him, and aske Kenneth what he intended to do. Kenneth just acted bemused, almost indifferent. He'd been bemused so long I guess nothing seemed to matter.

We went our own ways, and my father sent money to cover my train to Florida where I could also get a divorce. I'm on my way to my new life.

1.Douglas, Marjory Stoneman, and John Rothchild. Marjory Stoneman Douglas: Voice of the River: An Autobiography. Pineapple Press, 1990. 

2. photo: “MV 50-Class.” Condrenrails.com, Arkansas Boston Mountains Chapter of the National Railway Historical Society , 2023, www.condrenrails.com/FSVB/Midland%20Valley/50-class-4-6-0.htm. Accessed 3 Dec. 2023.

My Place: The Miami Herald

February 14th 1916

At last, I have found a place I belong, thanks to the help of my father.

I am so delighted to be working on the Herald. It's as if everything else that I had been doing since college had been all wrong, and suddenly I found what I was meant to do - even if it's as simple as writing society blurbs in a small city newspaper. I don't care what I'm writing about, as long as it is writing. This is a great leap forward in my individuality. (1. pg102)

Our reunion at the train station was quick and effortless, I was calmed by his fundamental sense of ease and quiet confidence. I don't know if I would've recognized him if it hadn't been told by a fellow train passenger greeting him as he walked onto the train to find me, I had only the distant memories of a 6 year old. 

We made our way back to his house where I met my step mother for the first time, Lillia Douglas. She came dashing out and down the steps, approaching me with arms outspread, her dear affectionate face all lighted up as if she'd know me forever. I was deeply affected by her welcome. She said she and my father had been friends for years after he'd met her in Orlando. Later, I learned they'd waited to get married until 2 years after my mother's death. (1. pg97)

I'm quite proud of the important historic lineage both my father and step mother have. Lillian's grandfather, Frances Eppes, was Thomas Jefferson's oldest grandson. At 18, he was sent to manage Jefferson's plantations in Virginia. When Jefferson dies bankrupt, Francis Eppes left Virginia with his furniture, his cattle, and his slaves in wagons and came down to Florida, where he became one of the earlies mayors of Tallahassee. Lillian inherited a large dining room table that belong to Thomas Jefferson, it currently sits in my fathers house, standing out from the other non pretentions furniture.(1. pg98)

On my father's side were the Coffins, Quakers who had migrated from Nantucket to Indiana. My great-great uncle Levi was the president of the Underground Railroad. The famous story of Eliza crossing the ice, told by Harriet Beecher Stowe in that badly written but enormously important book, Uncle Tom's Cabin, is true. Recently, it's been fashionable to doubt this, but I know that the doubters are wrong. The reason I know is that my great-great aunt Katie was a friend of Harriet Beecher Stowe's and Aunt Katie told her the Eliza story in the first place. After Eliza crossed the ice with her baby, jumping desperately from one floe to the other, she was taken to Uncle Levi and Aunt Katie's place in Indiana. (1. pg37)

There was a great book, Reminiscences of Levi Coffin, that should be reprinted. People have forgotten what the Civil War was about. They should never forget. Slavery was a great curse on American history. (1. pg39)

My father founded the Miami Herald when he moved to Miami in 1906. Shortly after I moved in with him, he asked me to fill in for the society editor temporarily, eventually turning into a full time position. As society editor, I generally get invited to openings of new hotels and social spots. I have been toughly absorbed by my writing, and expect it to become my new life. 

1. Douglas, Marjory Stoneman, and John Rothchild. Marjory Stoneman Douglas: Voice of the River: An Autobiography. Pineapple Press, 1990. 

2. Photo: Laurendo, Malcolm, and John Allen. “HEADLINES!; Unfolding 117 Years of History with the Miami Herald.” Coral Gables Museum, coralgablesmuseum.org/portfolio-item/headlines/. Accessed 3 Dec. 2023.

The Florida Suffrage Movement

May 27th 1916

Earlier this month I made the trip up to Tallahassee with fellow members of the Florida Equal Suffrage Association to speak before a joint session of the state legislature on behalf of woman suffrage. (2. pg51)

I have Mary Baird Bryan to thank for getting me into the suffrage movement. I met them through my father's connections as the owner of the Herald. Mrs. Bryan and her husband, William Jennings Bryan, moved to Miami after he resigned from Secretary of State under Woodrow Wilson. Very early, when their new house, Villa Serena, was finished, Mrs. Bryan invited me to visit her. She was in good physical shape - though not for long - and asked me and two or three other women to help serve tea on Wednesday afternoons to people who'd come to see Mr. Bryan. I'd stand around with the tea, and overhear all these admirers troop in and say "Oh, Mr. Bryan, I've voted for you three times, and I'd vote for you again." I realized what an influence he'd been. (1. pg106)

Mrs. Bryan enlisted me and Mrs. Frank Stranahan of Ft. Lauderdale, plus the widow of old Governor Napoleon Bonaparte Broward and the widow of another ex-governor, W.S. Jennings, to speak to the state legislature about ratifying the suffrage amendment. We went to Tallahassee by Pullman train. All four of us spoke to a joint committee, wearing our best hats. It was a large room with men sitting around on two sides with their backs propped up against the walls and large brass spittoons between every other one of them. Talking to them was like talking to graven images. They never paid attention to us at all. They weren't even listening. This was my first taste of the politics in north Florida. (1. pg107)

I feel like the legislators of north Florida don't even know there's a southern part to the state. Even though our testimony was ignored, it was valuable for me to work with women who'd struggled in this political area.

1.  Douglas, Marjory Stoneman, and John Rothchild. Marjory Stoneman Douglas: Voice of the River: An Autobiography. Pineapple Press, 1990. 
2. Davis, Jack E. “Green Awakening: Social Activism and the Evolution of Marjory Stoneman Douglas’s Environmental Consciousness.” The Florida Historical Quarterly, vol. 80, no. 1, 2001, pp. 43–77. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/30149433. Accessed 6 Nov. 2023.

Adventures With the Red Cross

 January 24th 1920

I am thrilled to be back in Miami. Despite only living here 3 years before my deployment overseas, it still feels like home.

My decision to join the Red Cross started back in March of 1913. I was sent down to Miami to write a story on the first woman to enlist in the state of Florida. We'd been told that the wife of the plumber from the plumbing shop across the street from the newspaper was going to sign up.

I arrived at the ship and the next thing I knew I was sticking up my hand, swearing to protect and defend the United States of America from all enemies whatsoever. I guess they talked me into it. I called my father at the paper and said "Look, I got the story on the first woman to enlist. It turned out to be me." He said, "I admire your patriotism, but that leaves us a little short-handed." Luckily I wasn't called up for a while, so my father had enough time to find another society editor. (1. pg112)

That year in the army was probably the most wasted year of my life. They made me a yeoman first class, responsible for writing letters for my commanding officers, many of whom got upset when I improved their grammar in my writing. 

Being in the Navy inspired me to join the Red Cross and go overseas. I began to work hard to improve my French and managed to convince the commandant in Key West, Captain Johnston, to help me put in for an official discharge form. The Navy was a glad to get rid of me as I was to leave. In my place they got some trained secretaries, girls who were cute and more useful in that sort of job. It's always important to get the right person for the right task. (1. pg114)

I left Miami in the Summer of 1918. First to New York, then to England, and finally to France via channel boat. There wasn't much civilian relief work to do at the Red Cross headquarters, but I pitched in the best I could. When the war officially ended, I elected to stay with the Red Cross. I was expected to travel from place to place and write stories about the turning over of Red Cross clinics to the local authorities. My department tried to write 5 stories a day that could be submitted to the AP wire service. (1. pg117)

Through my travels I had the opportunity to see many beautiful and unique locations including; many towns in France, Florence, Turin, Rome, the mountain town of Montecatino, the Balkans, Croatia, Montenegro, Bosnia, Albania, Athens, Naples, then back to Paris where I boarded a boat to return to Florida. My father had already arranged for me to take up the position of assistant editor when I returned home. I had hung on as long as I could, but I was ready to return home. 

1. Douglas, Marjory Stoneman, and John Rothchild. Marjory Stoneman Douglas: Voice of the River: An Autobiography. Pineapple Press, 1990. 
2. Photo: Florida. Military Dept. Marjory Stoneman Douglas. . State Archives of Florida, Florida Memory. Accessed 3 Dec. 2023.<https://www.floridamemory.com/items/show/219535>

The Hollow Vote

 December 27th 1922

I have decided to stop casting my voting. Though I will continue to champion the participation of women in politics, I believe that my voice, conveyed through pen and typewriter, is more potent than my vote. Since my experience with the Florida Equal Suffrage Association a couple years ago in Tallahassee, my distaste for not only state legislature, but also the profligate world of national politics has continue to grow. (2. pg51) 

I'd like to share a quote from 19th century writer and social critic Henry George that I found particularity captivating - "Social reform is not to be secured by noise and shouting, by complaints and denunciations, by the formations of parties or the making of resolutions but by the awakening of thought and the progress of ideas"

I believe the politicized women has much to contribute towards the improvement of society. A male dominated society is flawed. Men are not sensitive enough to the needs of the nation and all of it's citizens to make informed decisions concerning the welfare of either. From their own experience, women bring a fresh perspective to the public sphere of politics. Opening up the political process could potentially double the mind power behind it and broaden the flow of ideas. The only cost - in my opinion an affordable one - would be the breakup of the male-monopolized world. (2. pg52)

My new position at the Herald has allowed me to start my own daily column I've named "The Galley." No longer a slave to the social page, I can break into male dominated topics including local, state, national, and international matters. To help me with my writing, I've been reading several newspapers and several books a week, bringing the most accurate and informative information to my loyal readers. (2. pg54)

1.  Douglas, Marjory Stoneman, and John Rothchild. Marjory Stoneman Douglas: Voice of the River: An Autobiography. Pineapple Press, 1990. 
2. Davis, Jack E. “Green Awakening: Social Activism and the Evolution of Marjory Stoneman Douglas’s Environmental Consciousness.” The Florida Historical Quarterly, vol. 80, no. 1, 2001, pp. 43–77. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/30149433. Accessed 6 Nov. 2023. 

Florida's Convict Labor Leasing

May 12th 1923 (2. pg131)

Today the Senate passed a bill prohibiting the use of corporal punishment on county convicts. 

I first got involved in the situation when a story came out in the paper that a North Dakota boy came walking into Florida and was arrested and put into a labor camp as a vagrant. They make the vagrants work very hard and they beat them when they didn't. This boy was named Martin Tabert. He was beaten to death in the labor camp. 

The news of his death shocked me so much that I wrote a simple ballad titled "Martin Tabert of North Dakota Is Walking Florida Now"

When this poem was published it received enormous attention. It was read in Tallahassee, read in the legislature prior to today's decision. I think it may be the single most important thing I will ever accomplish as a result of something I've written. (1. pg133)

1. Douglas, Marjory Stoneman, and John Rothchild. Marjory Stoneman Douglas: Voice of the River: An Autobiography. Pineapple Press, 1990.

2. Carper, N. Gordon. “Martin Tabert, Martyr of an Era.” The Florida Historical Quarterly, vol. 52, no. 2, 1973, pp. 115–31. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/30149028. Accessed 4 Dec. 2023.

Goodbye, Father

 February 15th 1941

My father passed away earlier this month. Technically he was killed by a kidney stone, but I think it was really his general decision to not carry on. He'd been working on the Herald nearly to the end. The Herald had been sold to the Knight family but my father continued as editor-in-chief and wrote all the foreign policy editorials. He was as clear headed as ever and wrote just as forcefully. His legs didn't work very good because he hadn't exercised them. That's something I'll need to remember: Exercise your legs as well as your brain. (1. pg187)

He always had that Quaker sense about women which is different from the usual Protestant attitude. Quakers made no distinction between men's and women's minds; they didn't think that minds had any particular sense to them. My father had never doubted my intellectual ability. We had an instant rapport over books, although we always had a literary quarrel going. (1. pg100)

I'm currently in the process of sorting through the paperwork and funds left behind. His house has been left to Lillian. A small sum has been left to me, not much, but I wouldn't have wanted much. I plan to use it to get out of the magazine business and start working on a new novel.

You may have noticed the large span of time since my last update. I have been investing all my time into my writing career ever since I had to leave the Herald. In 1924, I started to suffer from nervous fatigue and couldn't sleep at night. Everything seemed to come to a head one night when I left the house late one night and walked up and down the empty streets until morning. The doctor said the Herald was too much pressure for me, and I needed to get away from it. (1. pg167)

Since then, I have been writing a variety of magazine articles, and short stories. For me, it was a perfect job. I hadn't been a good employee. I hadn't like regular hours. I hadn't  liked being told what to do, or working for other people. In a way I was a loner at work, the same way I was a loner at home. I wanted to be an individual rather than an employee or a female. I mean, I didn't mind being an employee or a female, but I'd rather be an individual. (1. pg170)

1. Douglas, Marjory Stoneman, and John Rothchild. Marjory Stoneman Douglas: Voice of the River: An Autobiography. Pineapple Press, 1990.

Photo: Frank Bryant Stoneman - editor in chief of the Miami Herald. 1900 (circa). State Archives of Florida, Florida Memory. Accessed 4 Dec. 2023.<https://www.floridamemory.com/items/show/144398>

The River of Grass

December 14th 1947

Earlier this year, I published my most popular novel yet; The Everglades: River of Grass

I started the project four or five years ago when my friend Hervey Allen, a fellow writer, dropped by my house. He'd pass through town occasionally, and we'd all get together. After his great success, Rinehart and Company made him the editor of its Rivers of America series. Well-known writers had been sent out to write books about the Hudson, the Upper Mississippi, the Lower Mississippi , etc. (1. pg190)

Allen came to my house to tell me they wanted me to write a book about the Miami River. I couldn't possibly write a novel about the Miami River, it was only an inch long - so I suggested the Everglades instead. I'll admit I didn't know much about the Everglades at that point, just that it connected to the Miami River. "All right," Hervey said, "write about the Everglades." There, on a writers whim and an editors decision, I was hooked with the idea that would consume me for the next five years, and likely the rest of my life. (1. pg90)

The problem of research in a comparatively unknown area like the Everglades is a curious one. No comprehensive book on the subject has ever been written before this attempt. There is little actual source material, in spite of much descriptive writing. One has to depend on the memories of people But, most fortunately, for me, a few studies of various phases of the Everglades have just been completed. So my heartfelt thanks goes out to people everywhere, scientists or old-timers, who have given me so generously of their knowledge on their own exhaustive studies. (2. pg386)

On December 6th, they established the Everglades National Park. I was part of the park committee, going down many times to see where the boundaries were to be drawn. I attended the ceremonies in Everglade City when President Truman formally dedicated the park. Many people were responsible for this great achievement, including my old friend Ruth Bryan Owen. She is currently a representative in Congress. During a debate in a House committee, the land owners who didn't want to sell to the government argued that the Everglades was a big swamp filled with snakes and mosquitos. To prove it, they brought a big snake in a bag and dumped it on the table. Ruth Bryan Owen saw that something had to be done. She'd never picked up a snake in her life, but she grabbed this one, wrapped it around her neck, and announced: "That's how afraid we are of snakes in the Everglades." (1. pg194)

1. Douglas, Marjory Stoneman, and John Rothchild. Marjory Stoneman Douglas: Voice of the River: An Autobiography. Pineapple Press, 1990. 

2. (photo) Douglas, Marjory Stoneman. The Everglades: River of Grass. Rivers of America Books, 1947. 

Coconut Grove Slum Clearance Committee

 November 15th 1950

Over the last two years I have been working with Elizabeth Virrick to bring plumbing and running water to the black community of Coconut Grove.

Elizabeth and her husband, Bobo, moved into an apartment house right next to the black area. At first, Elizabeth was annoyed by the noise, then she got to know the black people and found out they had no running water. She sounded the alarm that there were no sewers or water mains in the Colored Town, and then formed her own organization, the bi-racial Coconut Grove Slum Clearance Committee. I was put on the board. (1. pg174)

The first thing we did was to draw up a petition for a referendum requiring that all houses in Dade County should have indoor plumbing. We installed card tables outside grocery stores all over the city to get the required signatures. This took two years to pass. I suggested we set up a loan fund to enable black people to borrow money to build the bathrooms for themselves.(1. pg175)

While I believe this is a great step in the right direction, there is still much room for improvement. Poverty is a social problem with a long and unfortunate future in American society. (2. pg72)

1. Douglas, Marjory Stoneman, and John Rothchild. Marjory Stoneman Douglas: Voice of the River: An Autobiography. Pineapple Press, 1990. 

2. Davis, Jack E. “Green Awakening: Social Activism and the Evolution of Marjory Stoneman Douglas’s Environmental Consciousness.” The Florida Historical Quarterly, vol. 80, no. 1, 2001, pp. 43–77. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/30149433. Accessed 6 Nov. 2023. 

3. Plasencia, Alex. TigerPrints a History of West Coconut Grove from 1925: Slum Clearance, Concrete Monsters, and the Dichotomy of East and West Coconut Grove. Clemson University, May 2011.

Photo: “Changing Neighborhoods | Miami Housing Solutions Lab | University of Miami.” Affordablehousing.miami.edu, affordablehousing.miami.edu/housing-timeline/change-neighborhoods/index.html#:~:text=The%20Coconut%20Grove%20Committee%20for. Accessed 4 Dec. 2023.

Friends of the Everglades

January 15th 1970 (2. pg732)

Today was an exciting day for conservation. President Nixon has announced the signing of the new "Everglades Jetport Pact" which requires Dade County officials to find a new location for their commercial jetport, outside of the Everglades.

The prevention of this new jetport has been the sole focus of my new organization, Friends of the Everglades.

The organization itself was partially my idea, but I also have Joe Browder and his assistant, a gal named Wilson, for helping the idea develop. They were fighting to stop the construction of the jetport before Friends of the Everglades was founded.

I met Wilson one night in a grocery store and said "I think you and Joe are doing great work. It's wonderful." She looked me square in the eye and said, "Yeah, what are you doing?" "Oh me?" I said. "I wrote the book." "That's not enough," she countered. "We need people to help us." To get out of this conversation, I casually mumbled some platitude like "I'll do whatever I can."

You couldn't say "I'll do whatever I can" casually around Joe Browder. He was at my doorstep the next day and asked me to issue a ringing denunciation of the jetport to the press. I suggested that nobody could care particularly about my ringing denunciation of anything, and that such things are more important if they come from organizations. Without skipping a beat, he said, "Well why don't you start an organization?" So there I was, stuck with a challenge that began as a polite rejoinder in the grocery store line. (1. pg225)

I came up with the name Friends of the Everglades, and decided anyone could join for a dollar. I elected some acquaintances as the treasurer, vice president, and secretary. Soon, I started making speeches to any organization that would listen to me. I got 15 or 20 new members, at $1 a piece, every time I spoke. In a year we had over 500, and in another year over 1,000, and eventually 3,000 members from over 38 states. (1. pg226)

Now that the jetport has been stopped, I think the Friends of the Everglades will continue on the addressing the general predicament of water quality and the various water control projects that engineers are so eager to build. All of this water control is turning the natural environment of the Everglades into farm land, shrinking the habitat for the native species that call this land their home. Art Marshal, a scholar dedicated to the study on conservation, has taught me that much of the rainfall on which South Florida depends comes from the evaporation of the Everglades. We have Marshal to thank for taking the Everglades out of the bleeding-hearts category forever. (1. pg227)

1.Douglas, Marjory Stoneman, and John Rothchild. Marjory Stoneman Douglas: Voice of the River: An Autobiography. Pineapple Press, 1990. 

2. Gilmour, Robert S., and John A. McCauley. “Environmental Preservation and Politics: The Significance of ‘Everglades Jetport.’” Political Science Quarterly, vol. 90, no. 4, 1975, pp. 719–38. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/2148753. Accessed 5 Dec. 2023.

Photo: Carter, Luther J. “Land Use Law (II): Florida Is a Major Testing Ground.” Science, vol. 182, no. 4115, 1973, pp. 902–08. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/1737727. Accessed 5 Dec. 2023.

Old Age

July 27th 1986

As I'm writing this in 1986 I am 96 years old. It may seem strange, but I'm very comfortable in my nineties. I like the nineties. I don't seem to remember much about my eighties, but in the nineties I have a sense of achievement and a sense of leisure as well. I'm nit pushed as much as I was. (1. pg252)

I've kept up on my health over the years. With the exception of my failing eyesight, my commitment to eating a low cholesterol diet and staying on my feet has left me quite capable in my old age. They say that one of the worst things that can possibly happen is to lose your sight. That is not true. The worst thing that can happen is to die young. The second worst is to lose your mind. I'd much rather lose my sight than either life or mind. (1. pg254)

I've never run for office. I wouldn't be very good at it. If you run for office you stick your head in a noose. You give up free will. My father kept out of politics for the same reason, and I learned from him. You can wield just as much power with a newspaper. (1. pg248)

I've never believed much in religion. As a child, I had the habit of earnest and passionate prayer about my mother's condition. That went on for years, and the prayer was never answered. My mother died dreadfully with cancer anyway. I was in revolt against the secular idea of religion since that day. I do believe in the universe. I know too much about the Bible to believe that every word was written by God. But I'm completely convinced that whatever it is - maybe matter, maybe spirit - is all one. Therefore I call myself a monist.

On the other hand, I don't believe there is a soul. The soul is a fiction of mankind, because mankind hates the idea of death. It wants to think that something goes on after. I don't think it does, and I don't think we have souls. I think death is the end. A lot of people can't bear that idea, but I find it a little restful, really. I'm happy not to feel I'm going on. I don't really want to. I think this life has been plenty. It's just about all anybody could take, really. I'm cheerful about the feeling the end will come - let it come. 

This may seem harsh, but actually it's an important part of a positive attitude and a sense of human fulfillment. 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. (1. pg258)

 1. Douglas, Marjory Stoneman, and John Rothchild. Marjory Stoneman Douglas: Voice of the River: An Autobiography. Pineapple Press, 1990. 

A Lasting Legacy

 December 4th 2023

Marjory passed away May 14th 1998 at the age of 108. 

Before her death, she was presented with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor,  by President Bill Clinton in 1993 at the age of 103. (2. pg43)

Her ashes were scattered over the 1.3 million acre Marjory Stoneman Douglas Wilderness Area in the Everglades National Park (3.)

Florida still prohibits the use of convict labor camps. However, inmates now provide labor to Florida’s Department of Transportation, Division of Forestry, and nonprofits rather than leased to private entities. (4.)

All of the money loaned out by the Coconut Grove Slum Clearance Committee was paid back in full by the by the members of the black community. (1. pg175) Shortly after the houses were plumed for water and sewage, the single family homes were torn down and rebuilt as large concrete public housing buildings. (5.)

The small private airport that was designated to be expanded into the large commercial jetport still sits in the middle of the Big Cyprus Reserve. The area surrounding it was never developed, leaving a quite private airport in the middle of the reserve.

The Friends of the Everglades continues to protect, preserve, and restore the Everglades though donations and volunteer work. The organization has continued to grow in the digital age and publishes multiple articles on conservation every month. 

The Everglades National Park celebrated it's 75th Anniversary on December 6th 2022. Despite all the conservation efforts going into the area, the ecosystem continues to struggle. With it's original size reduced by half, and the redirection of water towards agriculture and public water supplies, the future is uncertain for America's largest wetlands. 

 1. Douglas, Marjory Stoneman, and John Rothchild. Marjory Stoneman Douglas: Voice of the River: An Autobiography. Pineapple Press, 1990. 

2. Davis, Jack E. “Green Awakening: Social Activism and the Evolution of Marjory Stoneman Douglas’s Environmental Consciousness.” The Florida Historical Quarterly, vol. 80, no. 1, 2001, pp. 43–77. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/30149433. Accessed 6 Nov. 2023. 

3. “Marjory Stoneman Douglas - Division of Arts and Culture - Florida Department of State.” Dos.fl.gov, dos.fl.gov/cultural/programs/florida-artists-hall-of-fame/marjory-stoneman-douglas/.

4. Brown, Aubrey. “The Story of Convict Leasing in Florida.” Www.thejaxsonmag.com, 22 Mar. 2019, www.thejaxsonmag.com/article/the-story-of-convict-leasing-in-florida/.

5. Plasencia, Alex. TigerPrints a History of West Coconut Grove from 1925: Slum Clearance, Concrete Monsters, and the Dichotomy of East and West Coconut Grove. Clemson University, May 2011.

Photo: Marjory Stoneman Douglas Bio – Marjory Stoneman Douglas. msdelementary.net/index.php/marjory-stoneman-douglas-bio/. Accessed 5 Dec. 2023.

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