Native American Authors

Betty Mae Jumper, 1923-

Seminole

Betty Jumper was born in 1923, at Indianatown near Lake Okeechobee in southern Florida. After graduating from a primary school in Carolina, she went to the Kiowa Indian Hospital in Oklahoma and completed a year of nurse’s training in the public health field. She then worked with the public health nurse serving the Seminole Reservation. In 1967 the Seminole people elected Betty Mae Jumper as the first woman to serve as chairman of the Seminole Tribal Council. After retirement Jumper worked with the communications department, which published her brief memoir.

Awards and Honors

Top Indian Women of the year, 1970

Online resources by or about Betty Mae Jumper:

A Special Tribute to Legendary Seminole Storyteller Betty Mae Jumper
Author: Phyllis Noah
Type: authorbio
Description: A short essay on Bette Mae Jumper’s life.

URL: http://www.newsbynoah.com/legends.htm

Books by Betty Mae Jumper:

Jumper, Betty Mae. Legends of the Seminoles
Sarasota, Fla. : Pineapple Press, 1994.
Genre: Folklore
Audience: All Ages
ISBN: 1561640336

Jumper, Betty Mae. A Seminole legend : the life of Betty Mae Tiger Jumper
Gainesville : University Press of Florida, 2001.
Genre: Biography
ISBN: 0813022851

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