Emily Pauline Johnson (1861-1913)
Emily Pauline Johnson
Known as Tekahionwake, “Double Wampum,” this Mohawk poet enjoyed
both critical and popular acclaim for her writing around the turn of the century. She
was born near Brantford, Ontario on March 10, 1861, the daughter of Hohawk chief
Henry Martin Johnson (Onwanonsyshon) and his English wife, Emily S. Howells. An
older cousin on her mother’s side was the writer William Dean Howells.
Pauline was
a precocious youngster, and by the age of 12 had read most of Scott, Longfellow,
Shakespeare, Byron, and other classical English writers. She had also begun
to write verse of her own, although for several years she was too shy to present
it for publication. When, in her mid-teens, she submitted a poem to the
local newspaper, the editor advised her to send her work to more widely circulated
publications. This she did, and during those early years her poetry appeared
in Harper’s Weekly, Smart Set, The Anatheum, and similar
literary publications of the period.
Another turning
point in her life occurred in 1892 when the Young Liberals Club of Toronto sponsored
an evening program devoted to the presentation of Canadian literature. In
Mohawk costume, Pauline Johnson read one of her most recent poems entitled, “A
Cry From an Indian Wife,” which relates the story of the Northwest Rebellion
from the Indian point of view:
O! coward self I hesitate no more;
Go forth, and win the glories of war.
Go forth, nor bend to greed of white men’s hands,
By right, by birth, we Indians own these lands.
The audience was deeply moved and called for more of her writing. The
next morning’s press spread the word of her triumph and she soon gave full
evening readings of her work. It was for this presentation that she wrote
what was probably her most famous work—The Song My Paddle Sings.
Her first
book—Songs of the Great Dominion—appeared in 1889. The
success of her early recitals was such that she soon embarked on a tour of Canadian
cities and then, in 1894, gave several readings in London. The timing was
just right for the general tone of her compositions, and she was able to meet
most of the English literary world. She was favorably reviewed by most
of the critics and arranged for the publication in 1895 of White Wampum,
a book which received equally warm acceptance.
She was on
tour for a large part of the next 15 years, from Vancouver to Halifax and from
Boulder, Colorado to Birmingham, England. In 1903 a volume of her poetry, Canadian
Born, was quickly sold out of its first edition. When she finally
retired from the exhausting schedule of public appearances, she settled in Vancouver,
British Columbia.
She gathered
a collection of Legends of Vancouver, published in 1911, which
one critic hailed as “an imaginative treatment of Indian folklore . . . the beginning
of a new literature.” But for the now famous poet it was close to
the end. Her final books, The Shaganappi, appeared in
1913, followed closely by Flint and Feathers. She died of cancer on March 7,
1913 at her home in Vancouver and was buried at Stanley Park in that city. In
commemoration of her role in Canadian literature, the government issued a 5¢ postage
stamp in 1961 celebrating the centenary of her birth, and featuring her portrait—the
first such issue honoring an author to appear on a Canadian postage stamp—and
the first Indian so recognized.
Source: Great North American Indians by Frederick J.
Duckstander
NATIVE
AMERICAN RHYMES 
