The daughter of a Mohawk chief and an English immigrant, Johnson was mostly educated at home. In 1875, she attended Brantford Central Collegiate and graduated in 1877. Johnson was active in amateur theatre and, in 1883, published her first poem, My Little Jean. Her father died the following year and Johnson continued to support her mother through her stage performances and her writing. Her mother passed in 1898, by which time Johnson had firmly established herself as an important Canadian author. In 1895, she published The White Wampum, her first book of poetry, which became a Canadian best-seller. She retired from the stage in 1909 and moved to Vancouver in British Columbia. The city erected a monument to her in 1922. Her other works include In the Shadows (1898), Canadian Born (1903), When George Was King and Other Poems (1908), Legends of Vancouver (1911), Flint and Feather (1912), The Moccasin Maker (1913) and Shagganappi (1913). |
