Myrtle Driver Johnson is an enrolled member of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians and a nativeCherokee language speaker. As of July 2019 she was one of only 211 remaining Cherokee speakers in the EBCI. In 2007 she was given the title of Beloved Woman by her tribe for her work translating into the endangered Cherokee language.
Language work
Johnson serves as the EBCI Tribal Council translator and has translated for the EBCI bilingual immersion school, New Kituwah Academy, since about 2006. For NKA, she translated Charlotte's Web, the first time the book had been translated into an indigenous American language. Johnson also translated Charles Frazier's Thirteen Moons, a novel loosely based on the life of William Holland Thomas that depicts the sociopolitical events surrounding the Cherokee removal. The novel was published by the Museum of the Cherokee Indian press. She narrated her translation of Thirteen Moons for the audio book and 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. She has also participated in the quarterly Cherokee Language Consortium, a gathering of the three federally recognized tribes to standardize new terms in Cherokee.
Views
Johnson was interviewed for the documentary First Language – The Race to Save Cherokee, and was translated as saying 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". Johnson toured the Cherokee Nation immersion school in Oklahoma before NKA was established and was so moved by seeing a 4-year-old read Cherokee words that she had to step 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 future of the Cherokee language. 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."
Honors
The Beloved Woman honor, which is rarely given and the highest a member can receive, was given to Johnson in 2007.
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. Johnson's daughter Myrna Climbingbear died at age 56 in June 2018 from cancer.
