Identity area
Type of entity
Person
Authorized form of name
Johnson, Emily Pauline
Parallel form(s) of name
- E. Pauline Johnson; Tekahionwake
Standardized form(s) of name according to other rules
Other form(s) of name
Identifiers for corporate bodies
Description area
Dates of existence
1861-1913
History
Emily Pauline Johnson (Tekahionwake) was born on March 10, 1861 on the Six Nations Reserve at Chiefswood. Because of her poor health as a child she did not attend day school on the reserve, instead she was home schooled. When she was 14, she attended Brantford Collegiate Institute, graduating in 1877. She began writing poetry in her teens and was first published in 1884 in the New York magazine "Gems of Poetry". She published more poetry in this publication and in the Toronto Week newspaper. She began performing her poetry live and embarked on a series of speaking tours in Canada, The U. S. and England. This continued until 1909. In 1895, at the height of her success as an oratory performer, she released a collection of poetry, "The White Wampum". This was followed by "Canadian Born" (1903) and "Flint and Feather" (1912). Johnson published "Legends of Vancouver" in 1911, which was a series of tales and short stories told to her by Joe Capilano, a Squamish chief. Two books of short stories were published in 1913 after her death, "The Shagganappi" and "The Moccasin Maker". Pauline Johnson died in Vancouver, British Columbia on March 7, 1913.