Environmentalist & Social Activist, Majory Stoneman Douglas Leaves Rich Blueprint For Parkland Activists

Meet Marjory Stoneman Douglas, who was invited to witness the signing of the Brady Bill, after receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1993. These inspiring students, rising out of the ashes and anguish of a devastating act of murder and violence in their Parkland, Fla school have a legacy to honor -- and they know it. We're not accustomed to schools named after women, but Marjory was an exemplary progressive who received the Presidential Medal of Freedom when she was 103, the same day the Brady Bill was signed.

Douglas was a woman way ahead of her time, blessed with a father who clearly believed in her. She graduated from Wellesley College in 1912 as an English major and then went to work as a reporter for her father's newspaper, now known as The Miami Herald, where she became an editor. 

Marjory Stoneman Douglas became the first Floridian woman to enlist in the Navy and then joined the Red Cross in 1918. Trained as a nurse, Mrs. Douglas soon set off to Europe to work as a nurse with war relief efforts.

Marjory Stoneman Douglas was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1993, giving the medal by President Bill Clinton.

Mrs. Douglas' many achievements are too numerous to mention, but when she died in 1998 at the age of 108, President Clinton said: "“Long before there was an Earth Day, Mrs. Douglas was a passionate steward of our nation’s natural resources, and particularly her Florida Everglades.”

After launching a successful campaign to preserve the Everglades as a national park, Douglas continued her work by founding the Friends of the Everglades, a conservation organization still active today. Her influence resulted in a 1996 constitutional amendment passed by Florida voters to hold polluters primarily responsible for cleaning up the Everglades. And the Florida and federal governments have authorized multimillion-dollar projects to restore and expand the Everglades. 

"I would be very sad if I had not fought. I'd have a guilty conscience if I had been here and watched all this happen to the environment and not been on the right side,"  said the grand dame

Besides writing many books and short stories focused particularly on women, this beloved Florida leader campaigned aggressively for the ratification of the Women's Suffrage Amendment, holding slum-lords responsible for their rental properties and donating free milk for babies whose parents needed aid and support. 

Surely Marjory Stoneman Douglas is with these brilliant young people in this moment of renewed social activism and demands for sensible gun control legislation. In her own words:

"'We want civilization for south Florida. And when we say that we do not mean electric lights and running hot and cold water, as you know. We want a place where the individual can be as free as possible, where the life of the community is rich and full and beautiful, where all the people, unhandicapped by misery, can go forward together to those ends which man dimly guessed for himself. Because we are pioneers we have dared to dream that south Florida can be that sort of place, if we all want it badly enough,'" (Peine, 2002, p. 20-21).

For the most part, I want the adults to get out of the way on this one, especially after the mind-blowing March 24 events. We need a new approach. Marjory Stoneman Douglas is on the Florida scene in spirit, and she will walk with these young voices who already are asking very tough questions from politicos and not mincing words. Their articulate intelligence and laser-sharp focus, coupled with their nonpartisan language is bringing hope to millions of Americans who are at their service and ready to take our marching orders..