Alligator bait

Uncommon card · No. 192359

Depicting African-American children or infants as alligator bait was a common trope in American popular culture in the 19th and 20th centuries. Images of African-American children or infants being hunted by or used to lure alligators ("gators") was widespread in North American white popular culture during the 19th and 20th centuries. The motif was present in diverse forms of media, including newspaper reports, songs, sheet music, and visual art, often appearing in conjunction with other racist tropes. A subtype of the pickaninny caricature, such images portrayed Black children as unlovable, disposable, and prey for predators. They were widely published in various media and forms from the late 19th century into the mid-20th century. They have been interpreted as expressions of a violent, dehumanizing attitude in which the endangerment and death of Black children and Black people in general was downplayed as a minor matter or implicitly even advertised as desirable. The supposed actual use...

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