Nurses Among the Florida Seminole and Miccosukee, 1934–1971

Exploring the stories of nurses who served Florida’s Indigenous communities during the Great Depression and the decades of change that followed

In this intersectional history, Christine Ardalan tells the stories of nurses who worked among the Seminole and Miccosukee people in Florida during the mid-twentieth century. Ardalan profiles three US government field nurses, several public health nurses, and the Seminole practical nurse Betty Mae Tiger Jumper. Ardalan’s analysis offers insights into the tensions between the white nurses and their supervisors, cultural differences between them and the communities they served, and the ways they often reinforced settler-colonial ideologies.

Ardalan looks at the work of the US nurses together with that of Betty Mae Tiger Jumper, who led the effort to respect traditional practices alongside government clinical care. Tiger Jumper cemented the healthcare message that the people themselves should determine their own paths toward healthfulness and well-being. The book concludes in 1971, when the Seminole Tribe of Florida assumed control of its health services. The information in this book contributes to the history of nursing and of Florida’s Indigenous communities during a period of great change.