November is a time to celebrate Native American Heritage and the contributions of indigenous trailblazers. Keeping with the theme, Osceola History would like to honor Betty Mae Tiger Jumper. She was an influential leader of the Seminole Tribe and a gifted storyteller sharing her meaningful heritage with countless generations.
Betty Mae Tiger was born on April 27, 1923, in a Seminole camp near Indiantown, Florida. Her mother Ada Tiger was a Seminole woman of the Snake clan, and her father Abe Partan was a Euro-French trapper and cane cutter (a worker who harvests sugar cane). Under Seminole tradition and matrilineal kinship, Betty Mae Tiger was given her mother’s surname. She endured harsh judgement from some because of her father’s makeup and this prompted the family to move to Dania reservation in Broward County.
Betty Mae’s grandmother, Mary Tiger, was a Seminole midwife and had studied nursing at Kiowa Indian Hospital in Lawton, Oklahoma. The skilled and talented line of women Betty Mae had sprung from fostered a curious spirit and a desire to learn. There was a segregated school system at this time in Florida and neither white nor black schools accepted Seminole children. Tiger was enrolled in a federal Indian boarding school in North Carolina and became the first formally educated Seminole of her tribe receiving her high school diploma in 1945.
Leaping into the world of medicine, Tiger enrolled in the alma mater of her grandmother, Kiowa Indian Hospital. After completing her nursing program, she returned to Florida and while pioneering the healthcare system in her community married Moses Jumper (Sr.): an alligator wrestler, cattleman in Big Cypress, and one of only two Seminole WWII veterans. Even after becoming a mother, Tiger worked tirelessly as a nurse within the Seminole community for 40 years. She strived to improve healthcare offerings, such as vaccinations and services for tribal women.
Among many of Tiger’s legendary accomplishments she was elected the first female chairwoman of the Seminole tribe in 1967– almost a decade after it had gained federal recognition. In this role she furthered tribal relations and organized a constitutional committee to create The Seminole Tribe of Florida’s constitution. She was the co-founder of a tribal newsletter, the Seminole News, but had a truly larger vision.
By 1982, after serving as both Chairwoman and Director of Operations for Seminole Communications, in time she became Editor-in-Chief of the official newspaper of the Seminole Nation, The Seminole Tribune. Known for her talent for writing and love for traditional storytelling, Betty Mae Tiger Jumper contributed to countless articles and even received the first Lifetime Achievement Award ever presented by the Native American Journalists Association.
To experience a collection of Betty Mae Tiger Jumper’s Seminole Legends alongside some authentic Seminole artifacts, educators should inquire about Osceola History’s Seminole Indian Traveling Trunk which is available on loan for up to 30 days. Osceola History has two trunks that are themed to address topics woven into our local history.
Sources:
Jumper, Betty Mae Tiger; West, Patsy (2001). A Seminole Legend. University Press of Florida.
Man, Anthony (January 15, 2011). “Betty Mae Tiger Jumper, 88, Seminole leader dies”. Sun-Sentinel. Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Archived from the original on January 21, 2011. Retrieved Nov. 14, 2024.
Seminole Tribe of Florida. (n.d.). Historic Seminole. Seminole Tribe of Florida – STOF. Retrieved November 14, 2024, from https://www.semtribe.com/history/historic-seminole
Jumper, B. M., LaBree, G., & Gallagher, P. (1994). Legends of the Seminoles. Pineapple Press, Inc.
Traveling Trunks – Osceola History. (n.d.). https://osceolahistory.org/traveling-trunks/