Myrtle Driver Johnson

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| name = Myrtle Driver Johnson

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| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1944|05|21}}

| birth_place = Big Cove, North Carolina, U.S.

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| nationality = {{nowrap|Eastern Band Cherokee, American}}

| occupation = Translator

| title = Beloved Woman

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Myrtle Driver Johnson (born May 21, 1944) (Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians) is a native speaker of the Cherokee language.{{efn|Specifically, Johnson's language expertise is representative of Kituwah (also known as the Middle or Eastern) dialect of Cherokee.{{cite book|author=Hartwell S. Francis|editor1=Jeffrey Reaser |editor2=Eric Wilbanks |editor3=Karissa Wojcik |editor4=Walt Wolfram|title=Language Variety in the New South: Contemporary Perspectives on Change and Variation|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=l29RDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA376|date=2018|publisher=University of North Carolina Press|isbn=978-1-4696-3881-2|page=376}}}} As of July 2019 she was one of 211 remaining Cherokee speakers in the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians (EBCI).

In 2007, her tribe designated Johnson as a Beloved Woman{{Cite news|url=https://www.smokymountainnews.com/archives/item/25547-cherokee-from-the-heart-beloved-woman-reflects-on-a-wandering-life-rooted-in-cherokee-language|title=Cherokee from the heart: Beloved Woman reflects on a wandering life rooted in Cherokee language|last=Kays|first=Holly|date=Sep 19, 2018|work=Smoky Mountain News|access-date=May 14, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190514200004/https://www.smokymountainnews.com/archives/item/25547-cherokee-from-the-heart-beloved-woman-reflects-on-a-wandering-life-rooted-in-cherokee-language|archive-date=May 14, 2019}} for her translations from English into the endangered Cherokee language, support of language classes, and development of materials and literature for teaching.

Language work

Johnson serves as the EBCI Tribal Council translator and has translated for the EBCI bilingual immersion school, New Kituwah Academy (NKA), since about 2006. For NKA, she translated the children's book Charlotte's Web, the first time the book had been translated into an indigenous American language.{{cite web |last1=Neal |first1=Dale |title=Beloved children's book translated into Cherokee |url=https://www.citizen-times.com/story/life/2016/05/26/beloved-childrens-book-translated-into-cherokee/84588624/ |publisher=Asheville Citizen Times |access-date=July 6, 2019 |date=May 26, 2016 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20190706231901/https://www.citizen-times.com/story/life/2016/05/26/beloved-childrens-book-translated-into-cherokee/84588624/ |archive-date=July 6, 2019 |url-status=live}} Johnson translated American author Charles Frazier's novel Thirteen Moons into Cherokee. It is loosely based on the life of William Holland Thomas, and explores the sociopolitical events related to Cherokee removal in 1839. The novel was published by the Museum of the Cherokee Indian press.{{Cite web |url=https://www.cherokeemuseum.org/learn/publications |title=Publications |website=Museum of the Cherokee Indian|url-status=usurped | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190421165727/https://www.cherokeemuseum.org/learn/publications |archive-date=April 21, 2019 }} She narrated her Cherokee translation of Thirteen Moons for the audio book. She also narrated Tsogadu Nvdo, a Cherokee-language audio book.

Johnson has been active with language and culture camps for children and speakers gatherings for adults.{{Cite news|url=https://carolinapublicpress.org/10572/groups-bringing-new-life-to-ancient-cherokee-language/|title=Groups bring new life to the ancient Cherokee language|date=July 17, 2012|work=Carolina Public Press|access-date=July 8, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190708185411/https://carolinapublicpress.org/10572/groups-bringing-new-life-to-ancient-cherokee-language/|archive-date=July 8, 2019}} She has also participated in the quarterly Cherokee Language Consortium, a gathering of the three federally recognized tribes{{efn|The three federally recognized Cherokee tribes are the Cherokee Nation (OK), the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians (OK), and the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians (NC).}} to standardize new terms in Cherokee.

Views

Johnson was interviewed for the documentary First Language – The Race to Save Cherokee. She said (in comments translated into English) that "the children are learning to speak Cherokee, and I feel the Cherokee language is important because the government sees the Indians, but doesn't see them as Indians if they don't speak their own language".{{Cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e9y8fDOLsO4|title=First Language - The Race to Save Cherokee|website=YouTube|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190726130212/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e9y8fDOLsO4&gl=US&hl=en&has_verified=1&bpctr=9999999999|archive-date=2019-07-26|url-status=live}} 21 minutes and 18 seconds in.

Johnson toured the Cherokee Nation immersion school in Oklahoma before NKA was established. She was so moved by seeing a four-year-old read Cherokee words that she stepped out of the classroom to cry. In 2019, the Tri-Council of the three federally recognized Cherokee tribes declared a state of emergency with regard to the Cherokee language.{{Cite news|url=https://www.theonefeather.com/2019/06/tri-council-declares-state-of-emergency-for-cherokee-language/|title=Tri-Council declares State of Emergency for Cherokee language|last=McKie|first=Scott|date=June 27, 2019|work=Cherokee One Feather|access-date=July 2, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190629081731/https://www.theonefeather.com/2019/06/tri-council-declares-state-of-emergency-for-cherokee-language/|archive-date=June 29, 2019}} This declaration included a resolution to work together on language revitalization, prompting Johnson to say "when they signed it, they made an agreement with us. They're going to help us. I'm not going to let them forget it."{{Cite news|url=https://www.bpr.org/post/state-emergency-declared-cherokee-language#stream/0|title=State Of Emergency Declared For Cherokee Language|last=Knoepp|first=Lilly|date=July 3, 2019|work=Blue Ridge Public Radio|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190704152401/https://www.bpr.org/post/state-emergency-declared-cherokee-language|archive-date=July 4, 2019}}

Honors

The Beloved Woman honor, which is rarely given and the highest a member of the EBCI can receive, was given to Johnson in 2007.{{Cite web|url=http://visitcherokeenc.com/blog/entry/what-does-it-mean-to-be-a-cherokee-beloved-woman/|title=What Does it Mean to be a Cherokee Beloved Woman?|publisher=Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180712070314/http://visitcherokeenc.com/blog/entry/what-does-it-mean-to-be-a-cherokee-beloved-woman/|archive-date=July 12, 2018|url-status=live|access-date=July 3, 2018}}

Family

Johnson's two daughters, Myrna Climbingbear and Renissa McLaughlin, have worked with her on language revitalization. Renissa McLaughlin, also known as Renissa Walker, has managed the Kituwah Preservation and Education Program of the Cherokee Preservation Foundation, overseeing NKA.{{Cite news|url=https://www.theonefeather.com/2015/09/grand-marshals-chosen-for-indian-fair-parade/|title=Grand Marshals chosen for Indian Fair Parade|date=September 15, 2015|work=Cherokee One Feather|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190216150033/https://www.theonefeather.com/2015/09/grand-marshals-chosen-for-indian-fair-parade/|archive-date=February 16, 2019}}[http://my40.tv/archive/renissa-walker-05-18-2016 Renissa Walker] (April 25, 2014) WMYA. [https://web.archive.org/web/20190708143121/http://my40.tv/archive/renissa-walker-05-18-2016 Archive url] Myrna Climbingbear died at age 56 in June 2018 from cancer.{{Cite news|url=https://www.theonefeather.com/2018/06/myrna-d-climbingbear-obituary/|title=Myrna D. Climbingbear – obituary|date=June 18, 2018|work=Cherokee One Feather|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190708135423/https://www.theonefeather.com/2018/06/myrna-d-climbingbear-obituary/|archive-date=July 8, 2019|url-status=live}}