Meet Jeffery Campbell—gator wrestler by day, python hunter by night, and full-time culture keeper and Gladesman.
“I was born and raised in Central Florida as a 7th-generation Florida Maroon, Gullahroon, Black Seminole, Seminole Freedmen. I’m a direct descendant of the Maroon leader and warrior Abraham, or Negro Abraham, like the Army called him.”
“Growing up in a Maroon family came with certain pride within our ancestral background. We were some of the only group of self-emancipated Africans who can say they were on record free before the Civil War, from living in the small tight-knit communities around the Florida swamp.”
“Some of my ancestors were also slaves to David Moniac… they managed to escape into Florida before the Second Seminole War and ended up in Abraham’s Town, not far from where Moniac was actually killed, allegedly while pursuing slaves that ran to Seminole villages.”
Jeffery graduated from Morehouse College in 2014 and came straight back to Florida. “My love for my home often translates to my passions and hobbies as an outdoorsman and gladesman, as the Florida swamps gave my family, along with the Indigenous communities of Florida—a beacon of hope and freedom.”
Today, he works as a swamp buggy tour guide in the Everglades. For the past seven years, he’s also been an alligator wrestler and python hunter. “I still continue to be an avid hunter and swamp guide.”
And yeah, he’s got the stories. “I guess a cool moment would be the time I tried wrestling an alligator at the Brighton Field Day and got bit up!”
But it’s not just about the thrills. “My work as a historian and conservationist is my way of giving back to the land that provided so much for my family in the past and currently in the present day. We still continue to tell the stories of the great warriors and fighters that sacrificed their lives so that we could be free in the Florida terrain, as well as the mystics of our musics and lores and legends that kept many of us connected over time and over landscapes.”
They call him the Black Legend of the Swamp. And if you ever ride alongside him, you’ll understand why. Follow @jcamp57 to keep up with his wild swamp adventures! And be sure to book a tour if you’re in the area—link in his bio!
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