the rebel queen

feministhistorian:

adailyriot:

badlandspolaroid:

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deejaybird:

Did you know in Florida during slavery slave masters would take a enslaved black child tie a rope around his or her legs put them in the water and use them for ALLIGATOR BAIT. Two movies in 1900 “Alligator Bait” and “Gator and the Pickaninny.” both showed and proved this practice.There were many advertisements and postcards in the South that proved this was real. A PART OF HISTORY NEVER TOLD. NOW YOU KNOW.

holy fuck . :(

I’m so going to lose followers for this but I want academic sources* backing this claim up. Media depictions of slaves being used as bait doesn’t prove that any slave children were used as bait… The fact these are from the 20th century should tell you something… this is imagery used to scare people. It is saying “you step out of line and you are alligator bait.”

*Peer reviewed books or journal articles. A blog, wikipedia, google search, etc. does not count as academic source. Yes, I’m one of those intellectual elitist folks who trust people with PhDs more than a person who can set up a blog on blogspot.

“Two movies in 1900 both showed and proved this practice.” LOL BECAUSE FILM IN 1900 WAS AN ACCURATE DEPICTION OF EVERYDAY LIFE? And postcards? Really? Postcards are always the most boring, unimaginative stereotype of a place one can even think up. Hardly a “source” for how a society really functions.

disclaimer: the mere concept of feeding children to alligators is fucked up and pretty damn immoral, but if this really happened is… well, unclear at best.

(via historicalslut)