Betty Mae Tiger Jumper was born in 1923, the daughter of a Seminole woman and a white man. She grew up in the Everglades under dark clouds of distrust among her tribe who could not accept her at first. As a child of a mixed marriage, she walked the line as a constant outsider. Growing up poor and isolated, she only discovered the joys of reading and writing at age 14. An iron will and sheer determination led her to success, and she returned to her people as a qualified nurse. When her husband was too sick to go to his alligator wrestling tourist job, gutsy Betty Mae climbed right into the alligator pit! Storyteller, journalist, and community activist, Betty Mae Jumper was a voice for her people, ultimately becoming the first female elected Seminole tribal leader.--publisher
Themes
Genres: Non-Fiction
Categories: Beautiful Life, Biography, Oppression & Resilience
Content: Activism, Bi/multilingual
Settings: Florida, North Carolina, Northern America, Oklahoma, United States of America
Immigration: Non-Immigrant
Gender: Girl/Woman
Race/Culture: Bi/Multiracial/Mixed Race, First/Native Nations/American Indian/Indigenous, White/European American/Caucasian
Character Prominence: Dominant Main, Secondary