Betty Mae Tiger Jumper

Betty Mae Tiger Jumper was the first female chief of the Seminole tribe of Florida.

Life

Betty Mae Tiger Jumper was born on April 27, 1923, in a Seminole camp near Indiantown, Florida. She grew up in Dania, in Broward County. At night Tiger Jumper listened as older members of the tribe told stories passed down from their ancestors. "The stories taught you how to live," she says. She would later write down these stories to preserve them for future generations. Before she could do that, she had to learn how to read and write. At that time Seminole children were not allowed to attend public schools in Florida. Tiger Jumper decided to attend a boarding school for Native Americans. She became the first Seminole to learn to read and write English and then to graduate from high school. She graduated from high school in 1945. Tiger Jumper then enrolled in a nursing program at the Kiowa Indian Hospital in Oklahoma. She returned to Florida the following year and worked to improve health care in the Seminole community. There she married Moses Jumper. She also traveled to many Seminole towns to care for members of her tribe. She started a tribal newsletter called the Seminole News, which later became The Seminole Tribune in 1950.

In 1967 Tiger Jumper became the first female chair, or chief, of the Seminole tribe. When Tiger Jumper became chief, the tribe had just $35 in savings. Thanks to her leadership, the tribe had $500,000 when she left office in 1971. She also brought together several tribes to form an organization that runs health and education programs for its members. "I had three goals in my life," Tiger Jumper says. "To finish school, to take nurse's training and come back and work among my people, and to write three books." She has met those goals and many more. she married Moses jumper and had three children.

Betty Mae Tiger Jumper was inducted into the Florida Women's Hall of Fame in 1994.

Betty Mae Tiger Jumper died peacefully in her sleep on Friday morning January 14, 2011

External links

• Betty Mae Tiger Jumper, 1922 - : First Woman to Lead Florida's Seminoles
• Betty Mae Jumper. 1923- :Inducted 1994

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