Depicting African-American children as alligator bait was a common trope in American popular culture in the 19th and 20th centuries. The motif was present in a wide array of media, including newspaper reports, songs, sheet music, and visual art. The image of black children or infants being used as bait to lure alligators was widespread in white popular culture, often appearing in conjunction with other racist tropes. There is no evidence in reliable primary or secondary sources that children of any race were ever used as bait in alligator hunting, so it is impossible to verify whether or not it was a historical reality. In American slang, alligator bait is a racial slur for African-Americans.