Marjory Stoneman Douglas
Marjory Stoneman Douglas was an American journalist, writer, feminist, and environmentalist known for her staunch defense of the Everglades against efforts to drain it and reclaim land for development. Moving to Miami as a young woman to work for The Miami Herald, Douglas became a freelance writer, producing over a hundred short stories that were published in popular magazines. Her most influential work was the book The Everglades River of Grass , which redefined the popular conception of the Everglades as a treasured river instead of a worthless swamp its impact has been compared to that of Rachel Carsons influential book Silent Spring . Her books, stories, and journalism career brought her influence in Miami, which she used to advance her causes.
Marjory Stoneman was born on April 7, 1890, in Minneapolis, Minnesota, the only child of Frank Bryant Stoneman and Lillian Trefethen , a concert violinist. One of her earliest memories was her father reading to her The Song of Hiawatha, at which she burst into sobs upon hearing that the tree had to give its life in order to provide Hiawatha the wood for a canoe. She was an early and voracious reader. Her first book was Alices Adventures in Wonderland, which she kept well into adulthood until some fiend in human form must have borrowed it and not brought it back. She visited Florida when she was four years old, and her most vivid memory of the trip was picking an orange from a tree at the Tampa Bay Hotel. From there she and her parents embarked on a cruise from Tampa to Havana.
Source: Wikipedia