Existing comment:
Marjory Stoneman Douglas, 1890-1998:
By the time she was fifty, Marjory Stoneman Douglas could look back with satisfaction on a varied career that included working as a reporter, columnist, and editor for the Miami Herald and as a successful short-story writer. But her most significant work began in the mid-1940s, when she wrote a book on the Florida Everglades. "The Everglades: River of Grass" (1947) became an instant best-seller, and for the public at large it called attention to the ecological important of this vast expanse of water and wildlife. Many years later, the book also led to Douglas's founding of the Friends of the Everglades, which grew into a major force in the campaign to protect the area's natural integrity against a host of human-created abuses. In 1993, she was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
Menden Hall, 1993 |