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E. Pauline Johnson was Canada’s first ‘spoken word’ star. The daughter of a Mohawk father and an English-born mother, Johnson (also known by the Mohawk name Tekahionwake) criss-crossed the continent in the 1890s, captivating audiences with lyrical verses about nature and spine-chilling ballads about Indigenous warriors. After her death in Vancouver in 1913, at age 51, her name lived on for decades as generations of schoolchildren would learn her most famous poem: “The Song My Paddle Sings.”

Johnson began her stage career in Ontario giving recitals for which she wore an elegant, conventional evening gown. Then she punched up her act by opening her performances clad in an “Indian dress”, that she constructed herself from a buckskin top and skirt, purchased from the Hudson’s Bay Company, plus a hunting knife, wampum belt, Huron scalp and trade brooches. After the interval, she would reappear in an evening gown, silk stockings and pumps. On a trip to England in 1894, to find a publisher for her poetry, Johnson bought two particularly beautiful gowns from Barkers, a large department store on Kensington High Street. Back in Canada, these gowns served her well through dozens of performances, although their full sleeves and hourglass shapes became increasingly out-of-date.
- Charlotte Gray

Charlotte Gray is the author of the national bestseller “Flint & Feather, The Life and Times of E. Pauline Johnson, Tekahionwake”.