I come across the story of Betty Mae Tiger Jumper in the book about the Seminole Indians. She is also known as Potackee. She spoke Mikasuki and Creek. Her father was white and their were threats that she and her brother would be killed as they were not full blooded Seminole. Her family went to a different reservation.
She attended a federal boarding school in Cherokee, North Carolina. She graduated in 1945. She was the first Seminole to graduate from high school. She then enrolled in Kiowa Indian School in Oklahoma and studied nursing. Seminole were very traditional and most preferred Indian doctors. Her mother practiced Indian medicine but accepted whatever would help the sick. Jumper played a big part in transitioning the Seminole people to modern medicine. She traveled to the reservation and provided inoculations.
She married Moses Jumper. Together they had three children who all died young. They then adopted two Seminole children.
Tiger Jumper worked in nursing for 40years, helping to bring health care to the Seminole in Florida. She also started a tribal newspaper, Seminole News. In 1967 she was elected chairwoman of the Seminole Tribes. She was the first woman to hold this role. She has written three books. She wrote a book about Seminole legends and stories, Legends of the Seminole (1994). Her personal memoir is titled A Shoshone Legend. She also narrated a movie about Seminole legends, The Corn Lady: Seminole Indian Legends (1991).
She received several honors: Florida WOmen's Hall of Fame; Woman of the Year in Florida; Lifetime Achievement, and Native American Journalists among others.
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