Blair Niles (née Mary Blair Rice, 1880–1959) was an American novelist and travel writer. She was a founding member of the

Society of Woman Geographers The Society of Woman Geographers was established in 1925 at a time when women were excluded from membership in most professional organizations, such as the Explorers Club, who would not admit women until 1981. It is based in Washington, D.C., and ...

Early life and expeditions

Born Mary Blair Rice, Blair was born on ''The Oaks,'' her parents' plantation in Staunton, Virginia. She was educated at home by her mother, Marie Gordon "Gordy" Rice, who taught a night school for her four children and children of the sharecroppers. At age 14, Blair attended the Northfield Seminary for Young Ladies in Massachusetts and then the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, where she studied domestic science. In 1902, she married

William Beebe Charles William Beebe ( ; July 29, 1877 – June 4, 1962) was an American natural history, naturalist, ornithologist, marine biologist, entomologist, explorer, and author. He is remembered for the numerous expeditions he conducted for the New Y ...

, Curator of Birds at the New York Zoological Park, now the Bronx Zoo. Within the first year of their marriage, they went on three honeymoon expeditions: to Nova Scotia, Oak Lodge, a boarding house for naturalists on the Indian River in Florida, and to Cobb Island, Virginia. In 1904, they traveled to Mexico, and in 1908 and 1909, they traveled to Venezuela and British Guyana to scout out a location for a Tropical Research Station to be sponsored by the Bronx Zoo. When they published ''Our Search for Wilderness'' about their South American travels, Blair received the recognition she long desired: she was credited as a co-author, with her name listed first. Their plans to establish a Tropical Field Station in South America were interrupted when they received an offer from Anthony Kuser to underwrite an eighteen-month expedition to Asia to study and collect pheasants. In December 1910, they boarded the R.M.S. Lusitania to start th
pheasant expedition
They traveled to Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), Burma (Myanmar), India, China, Borneo, Indonesia, Malay, Japan, and Singapore.

Divorce and suffrage

In 1913, Blair traveled to Reno to divorce William Beebe on the grounds of cruelty. A few days after the divorce, she married architect Robert "Robin" Niles. For a few years, she worked in the suffrage movement and was a New York delegate to the

Congressional Union for Woman Suffrage The Congressional Union for Woman Suffrage was an American organization formed in 1913 led by Alice Paul and Lucy Burns to campaign for a constitutional amendment guaranteeing women's suffrage. It was inspired by the United Kingdom's suffrage ...

Writing career

In the early 1920s, Blair began writing travel books. In 1923, she published ''Casual Wanderings in Ecuador''. ''Colombia: Land of Miracles'' followed in 1924, and ''Peruvian Pageant'' in 1937. She developed a new approach to writing travel books, which she called "the human travel book" in which she linked contemporary culture with the past by exploring history, traditions, and legends. Her breakthrough book was ''Black Haiti: A Biography of Africa's Eldest Daughter'' (1926), which told the story of the largest slave revolt in history led by

Toussaint L'Overture François-Dominique Toussaint Louverture (, ) also known as Toussaint L'Ouverture or Toussaint Bréda (20 May 1743 – 7 April 1803), was a Haitians, Haitian general and the most prominent leader of the Haitian Revolution. During his life, ...

. This book was closely followed by ''Condemned to Devil's Island'' (1928), the bestselling fictionalized account of the escapes of René Belbenoît, a prisoner on the

Devil's Island The penal colony of Cayenne ( French: ''Bagne de Cayenne''), commonly known as Devil's Island (''Île du Diable''), was a French penal colony that operated for 100 years, from 1852 to 1952, and officially closed in 1953, in the Salvation Islan ...

penal colony in French Guiana. The book was made into a Hollywood movie, '' Condemned''. Blair was the first woman to visit Devil's Island. Her book is credited with drawing public attention to the prison, resulting in its eventual closure. When the Depression hit, Blair looked for places closer to home to investigate. In 1931, she published '' Strange Brother'', the first book to compassionately portray gay men in Harlem. Blair then turned to writing books about Latin America, with a focus on the ancient Aztec, Incan, and Quiche civilizations. On the centennial of the Supreme Court's ''

United States v. The Amistad ''United States v. Schooner Amistad'', 40 U.S. (15 Pet.) 518 (1841), was a United States Supreme Court case resulting from the rebellion of Africans on board the Spanish schooner '' La Amistad'' in 1839.. It was an unusual freedom suit that i ...

'' decision, Blair wrote a novel that introduced a new generation to the Court's decision, which held that kidnapped Africans were not the property of their “owners.” The book, called ''East by Day'', was selected as one of twenty books by readers of the ''New York Herald'' for Great Britain readers. It served as her atonement for her grandfather's role in the Civil War. She knew that her grandfather,

Roger Atkinson Pryor Roger Atkinson Pryor (July 19, 1828 – March 14, 1919) was an American newspaper editor, lawyer, politician and judge. A journalist and U.S. Congressman from Virginia known as a Southern "fire eater" for his fiery oratory in favor of slaver ...

, spoke in Charleston, South Carolina urging the Confederates to open fire on Fort Sumter to force Virginia into secession. According to ''The New York Times'', this speech was the “match that exploded the powder magazine and brought on the war.” As one of Confederate General Beauregard's aides-de-camp, Roger declined the offer to fire the first cannon of the Civil War. This book motivated Blair to write ''East by Day.''

Society of Woman Geographers

In 1925, during tea with Marguerite Harrison, Blair suggested the formation of a society for woman explorers because the all-men

Explorers Club The Explorers Club is an American-based international multidisciplinary professional society with the goal of promoting scientific exploration and field study. The club was founded in New York City in 1904 and has served as a meeting point for ex ...

banned women from membership. Marguerite endorsed the idea and they presented it to Gertrude Emerson Sen and Gertrude Mathews Shelby, also explorers. They recruited

Harriet Chalmers Adams Harriet Chalmers Adams (October 22, 1875 – July 17, 1937) was an American explorer, writer and photographer. She traveled extensively in South America, Asia and the Oceania, South Pacific in the early 20th century, and published accounts of her ...

as president of the newly formed

. The organization grew rapidly and admitted as members such illustrious women as

Amelia Earhart Amelia Mary Earhart ( ; July 24, 1897 – January 5, 1939) was an American aviation pioneer. On July 2, 1937, she disappeared over the Pacific Ocean while attempting to become the first female pilot to circumnavigate the world. During her li ...

Margaret Mead Margaret Mead (December 16, 1901 – November 15, 1978) was an American cultural anthropologist, author and speaker, who appeared frequently in the mass media during the 1960s and the 1970s. She earned her bachelor's degree at Barnard Col ...

Osa Johnson Martin Elmer Johnson (October 9, 1884 – January 13, 1937) and Osa Helen Johnson (née Leighty, March 14, 1894 – January 7, 1953) were married American adventurers and documentary filmmakers. In the first half of the 20th century the couple ...

Annie Smith Peck Annie Smith Peck (October 19, 1850 – July 18, 1935) was an American mountaineer and adventurer. The northern peak of the Peruvian Cordillera Blanca mountain chain, Huascarán was named ''Cumbre Aña Peck'' in Peck's honor. She was an ardent ...

Louise Arner Boyd Louise Arner Boyd (September 16, 1887 – September 14, 1972) was an American explorer of Greenland and the Arctic, who wrote extensively of her scientific expeditions. She became the first woman to fly over the North Pole in 1955, after privately ...

, Josephine Peary, Pearl S. Buck,

Malvina Hoffman Malvina Cornell Hoffman (June 15, 1885July 10, 1966) was an American sculpture, sculptor and author, well known for her life-size bronze sculptures of people. She also worked in plaster and marble. Hoffman created portrait busts of working-class ...

, Gloria Hollister,

Anna Heyward Taylor Anna Heyward Taylor (November 13, 1879 – March 4, 1956) was a painter and printmaker who is considered one of the leading artists of the Charleston Renaissance. Early life and education Anna Heyward Taylor was born November 13, 1879, in Columbi ...

Eleanor Roosevelt Anna Eleanor Roosevelt ( ; October 11, 1884November 7, 1962) was an American political figure, diplomat, and activist. She was the longest-serving First Lady of the United States, first lady of the United States, during her husband Franklin D ...

, and Te Ata, Membership was not limited to explorers, but included anyone whose published works (including art and music) contributed to the understanding of the countries on which the member specialized. The Society is still in existence today. More recent members include

Jane Goodall Dame Jane Morris Goodall (; born Valerie Jane Morris-Goodall; 3 April 1934), formerly Baroness Jane van Lawick-Goodall, is an English zoologist, Primatology, primatologist and Anthropology, anthropologist. She is considered the world's foremo ...

Sylvia Earle Sylvia Alice Earle (born August 30, 1935) is an American marine biologist, oceanographer, explorer, author, and lecturer. She has been a National Geographic Explorer at Large (formerly Explorer in Residence) since 1998. Earle was the first fem ...

, and Kathryn Sullivan.

Ancestry

In 1859, Blair's grandfather,

, was appointed to fill a vacant seat in the United States House of Representatives, representing Virginia. Later he became a judge in New York State. Blair Niles was the granddaughter of Sara Rice Pryor and

Roger Pryor Roger Atkinson Pryor (July 19, 1828 – March 14, 1919) was an American newspaper editor, lawyer, politician and judge. A journalist and U.S. Congressman from Virginia known as a Southern "fire eater" for his fiery oratory in favor of slaver ...

, and the daughter of Marie Gordon Pryor. Her unique namesake, "Mary Blair," is shared with her mother's sister, Mary Blair Pryor, her cousin Mary Blair Walker Zimmer, and several other women in her lineage, as documented in
"Mary Blair Destiny"
Her grandmother Sara Rice Pryor was also a widely-read author for her chronicling of life in antebellum Virginia. Blair Niles did not have any children of her own.

Honorable recognition

The City of Lima had awarded Blair a gold medal for her book, ''Peruvian Pageant'' on the 117th anniversary of the independence of Peru. In 1941, Blair Niles was awarded the Constance Skinner Award, now the Women's National Book Award. She was the second recipient of that award. In 1944, the

bestowed its third Gold medal on Blair.

Bibliography

Non-fiction

* '
Our search for a wilderness; an account of two ornithological expeditions to Venezuela and to British Guiana
' (Mary Blair Beebe and William Beebe, 1910) * ''Casual Wanderings in Ecuador'' (1923) * ''Colombia: Land of Miracles'' (1924) * ''Black Haiti: A Biography of Africa's Eldest Daughter'' (1926) *''Maria Paluna'' (1934) *''Day of Immense Sun'' (1936) * ''Peruvian Pageant, A Journey In Time'' (1937) * ''The James: From Iron Gate to the Sea'' (1939) (

Rivers of America Series The Rivers of America Series is a landmark series of books on American rivers, for the most part written by literary figures rather than historians. The series spanned three publishers and thirty-seven years. History The Rivers of America Series ...

) *''Journeys in Time'' (1946) *''Passengers to Mexico: The Last Invasion of the Americas'' (1943) * ''Martha's Husband: An Informal Portrait of George Washington'' (1951)

Fiction

* ''Condemned to Devil's Island'' (1928) - turned into the 1929 film '' Condemned'' * ''Free'' (1930) * '' Strange Brother'' (1931) *''Light Again'', 1933 *''Maria Paluna'' (1934) * ''Day of the Immense Sun'' (1936) * ''East by Day'' (1941)