While Johnson remained passionate and committed to Native causes, she was deeply entrenched in the world of Canada's pioneering New Women and their efforts to enlarge opportunities for the female sex. Amid a post-Confederation generation of middle-class white women, Johnson paved a way and made a name for herself as an Indigenous woman. Johnson's mother, who was English, notably avoided public life and "the glare of the fierce light that beat upon prominent lives, the unrest of fame, and the disquiet of public careers". Johnson by contrast pursued public life in her effort to support her family; she made her way as a New Woman in North America and Britain.