On a Sunday morning, Billie Shoecraft stepped outside of her Arizona home clad in her pink night gown only to be drenched with herbicides. A housewife turned activist, she walked the path that Rachel Carson paved for citizen scientists using media to affect the public. Shoecraft died of cancer in 1976.
Shoecraft’s story formed part of a symposium that marked the 50th anniversary of Rachel Carson’s book Silent Spring. Scholars from universities across the country gathered in Strozier Library’s Scholars Commons Reading Room last Friday for the all-day symposium, where they measured, evaluated and challenged the legacy of both Silent Spring and Rachel Carson.
Silent Spring outlines the effects of pesticide sprays on the environment, activating the modern American environmental movement. Carson blamed the chemical industry of disseminating incorrect information; her findings are still under fire today.
Amy Hay of the University of Texas described Silent Spring as a bridge between the humanities and the sciences that “exposes the ruptures” in the scientific community. Hay believes Carson revolutionized what it means to be a scientist, thus inspiring a new generation of environmental activism among women, including Billie Shoecraft.
Set on studying medicine after graduation, sophomore biology student Diedre Krzanowski attended the symposium to learn more about Rachel Carson. Her medicine and society professor Frederick Davis presented at the symposium. She said she was most fascinated by Dr. Hay’s discussion of the mythology of Rachel Carson.
“Going into the field of medicine, there are always things that you have to be aware of—environmental conditions as well as medications we’re learning can have a big impact on the future,” said Krzanowski. “So I think Rachel Carson for me kind of set that spark in my head so that I kind of became aware that actions that we take today can affect people in the future.”
Florida State professor Michael Ruse paints Rachel Carson as both a heroic and tragic figure. She takes on the pesticide industry and subjects herself to attack, but does not live to see the outcome of her activism. While he recognizes Silent Spring is a carefully constructed book, Ruse calls for a full systematic study of her sources. Environmentalist Marjorie Spock was a source of much information for Carson, but is not referenced in Silent Spring’s acknowledgements. He says there could be more to the story.
“When the full story comes out, and sort of the real history of science professionals get their hands on it and work on this, my suspicion is we’re going to find that Silent Spring is a lot more of a social construction,” said Ruse. “That’s my end suspicion but please understand I don’t see this as negative.”
Associate Professor of History Frederick Davis helped organize the Silent Spring symposium.
“I think the take home message from today’s symposium is that Rachel Carson is absolutely an inspirational figure, but also a figure with many many layers,” said Davis. “Historians have just begun to peel away the rich legacies of Rachel Carson and Silent Spring and I hope that we can continue to try to understand her remarkable scholarship and writing, but also her continued significance in the environmental movement.”