Alligator bait

In the American popular imagination, black children were commonly used as bait for hunting alligators,[1] which are one of the central apex predators of the folklore of the United States, along with cougars, bears and wolves.

[2] The reasons for dubbing black babies "alligator bait" are unknown, but the identification may be a consequence of earlier associations of African crocodiles—a relative of American alligators—with Africa and its people.

"[4] The alligator bait image is a subtype of the racist pickaninny caricature and stereotype of black children, where they were represented as almost unhuman, filthy, unlovable,[5] unkempt,[6] "unsupervised and dispensible.

[19] The title "Alligator Bait" for an 1897 collage of nine African-American babies posed "on a sandy bayou" was supposedly suggested by a hardware-store employee in Knoxville, Tennessee as part of a naming contest with a cash prize.

"[22] American studies professor Jay Mechling concludes his essay (about how alligators are used in cultural messaging) on a similar note: To discover the ways in which these symbols and stories carry anti-female and anti-black meanings is to see the ideology packed into our most taken-for-granted attitudes toward the world.

"[33][non-primary source needed] In 1919 a Port St. Lucie newspaper column complained, "Many years ago this serious error was perpetrated on Florida by an advertising agent of a railroad running through the South...Florida's portion was [advertised with] pictures of moss hung swamps, rattlesnakes, alligators, and negro babies labelled 'alligator bait'... this harmful psychology became very popular..doubtless many foreigners believing that these babies were actually used for alligator bait.

"[34][non-primary source needed] In 1926 a columnist for The Eustis Lake Region called it "a piece of Florida fiction going the rounds which ancient spinsters in snowbound lands delighted to repeat as truth.

"[35][non-primary source needed] In May 2013, Franklin Hughes of the Jim Crow Museum of Racist Memorabilia at Ferris State University in Michigan argued that due to the number of periodicals which mention the use of black children as bait for alligators, it likely occurred, though it was not widespread or became a normal practice.

Hughes essentially argues that since there was no discernible limit to the dehumanization and degradation of African Americans in the U.S. national history, feeding children to animals for sport cannot be precluded as a possible reality.

[40] Per Mechling, the earliest instance of this lore is in a 1565 slave trader's account, and as late as the mid-20th century, in a story by Florida writer Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, a gator forgoes a group of naked white guys for the opportunity to gorge itself on an individual black man instead.

[41] A variant use, albeit also expressing distaste, was alligator bait as World War II-era U.S. military slang for prepared meals featuring chopped liver.

[44][45] In 1905 a Vienna, Georgia paper reported high cotton prices and wrote "The bench-legged pickaninny, once so attractive as alligator bait, is now tenderly nurtured and gets three 'squares' a day, for on him hangs the future hopes of big crops.

"[47] In 1923 the Moline, Illinois sports page reported "The Plows used a wee hunk of alligator bait as bat boy yesterday, but the luck turned the other way.

[49][non-primary source needed] Alligator bait appears in the lyrics of a 1940s swing-era jazz song called "Ugly Chile" (originally published 1917 as "Pretty Doll" by Clarence Williams).

Illustration of a swampy scene in Florida; three young black children are seated on a log across a small pool of water from an alligator displaying its open mouth. The middle child wears a broad-brimmed hat. In the background are palm trees and a cabin next to open fields. The top of the postcard reads "Alligator Bait, Florida".
Early 20th century postcard depicting black children as "alligator bait"
Nine dark-skinned African-American children, all naked, several with exposed male genitalia, all appearing to be toddlers between ages one and three, sit or stand in a variety of body positions; original caption reads Alligator bait with a copyright notice by McCrary & Branson of Knoxville, Tennessee dated 1897
"Alligator Bait" photograph published by McCrary & Branson , 1897 ( British Library )
Two alligators menace a stereotyped black man clambering into a stereotyped palm tree, a woman in colorful dress runs away comically screaming; original caption: "Honey come down we are waiting for you in Florida"
"Topics: Racism, ethnic wit and humor, 1898-1920" ( National Museum of American History )
Alligator with black man in his jaws; card caption is "Free lunch in the Fla. Everglades"; full text of "The Florida Gator" poem is "Have you met the Florida Gator? He is the champion negro hater Although he finds many things to eat his favorite morsel is Negro meat"
Have you met the Florida Gator? He is the champion negro hater ; this postcard image and lyric first appeared in the 1930s [ 24 ] ( Florida International University Libraries )