Do you know...

Betty Mae Tiger Jumper, 1922 -
First Woman to Lead Florida's Seminoles

She was born in 1922 in a little place east of Lake Okeechobee called Indiantown. At that time, Indiantown had 100 Native Americans and 75 White residents. Soon she moved to the Dania Indian Reservation near Hollywood, Florida. There she began her study of English so she could not only understand her Seminole world, but also the world outside her reservation. Soon she wanted to go to school, but in those days Native Americans could not attend Florida's schools. For this reason, Betty Mae Tiger and her cousin, Mary, went off with Betty Mae's brother, Howard, to the Cherokee Indian Reservation in North Carolina -- over one-thousand miles from their home in Florida.

Over 700 students studied at the Cherokee school from many native language groups and thus, they had to use English as a common language. When Betty Mae graduated in 1945, she and a cousin were the first Seminoles from Florida to ever graduate from high school.

Betty Mae went to Oklahoma to train as a practical nurse at the Kiowa Indian Hospital. Returning to Florida, Betty Mae used her nurses' training and her command of English to provide ever better medical and health care for Seminoles on the Florida reservations. She drove and walked many miles to care for the sick and to teach about health care. During her twenty years of health care service, she married Moses Jumper, a War veteran, and had three children. One of the health clinics she helped to get started is named in her honor, the "Betty Mae Jumper Complex."

In 1950, Betty Mae began a tribal newsletter called the Seminole News (now The Seminole Tribune), using her English language skills. In 1957, when the Seminole Indians became organized as the Seminole Tribe of Florida, she was a leader using her ability to speak Creek Miccosukee and English. First she was vice-chairman, and then, she was elected Chairman of the Tribal Council...the highest position in the Seminoles' government! Today, Betty Mae Tiger Jumper writes, and teaches about the Seminole people. As she said, "As a young girl, I knew that I wanted to help my people and I do believe that I have made a difference to the Seminole people of today."

She also made the 100 Native Americans Who Shaped American History list.