Jumper, Betty Mae (1923–)

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Jumper, Betty Mae (1923–)

Native American nurse. Name variations: Betty Mae Tiger Jumper. Born Betty Mae Tiger, April 27, 1923, in the Everglades, near Lake Okeechobee, FL; dau. of Mae Tiger (full Seminole) and Abe Partan (Euro-French trapper and cane cutter); granddau of Mary Tiger (Seminole midwife); studied nursing at Kiowa Indian Hospital in Lawton, OK; m. Moses Jumper (1 of only 2 Seminole WWII veterans), 1946; children: 3.

The 1st Seminole Indian trained woman nurse, the 1st Seminole (with cousin) high school graduate (1945) and the 1st and only female Seminole tribal council chair (1967–71), began work as a Bureau of Indian Affairs murse (1946) for Seminole reservations in state of FL; acted as an interpreter for old tribe members (1950s) to support continued official recognition of the Seminole Nation; served as director of operations for Seminole Communications (from 1971); established (1979) and served as editor in chief of official newspaper of the Seminole Nation, the Seminole Tribune; writings include Legends of the Seminoles (1994).

See also autobiography, A Seminole Legend: the Life of Betty Mae Tiger Jumper (2001).