African American babies being used as alligator bait really happened, and it happened to real people. It doesn't seem to have been a widespread practice, but it did happen.

Once they are captured by FPL specialists, the crocodile babies are measured and tagged with microchips, so the team is able to track them.

By staying with the hatchlings, the mother crocodile can help her babies get the best possible start in life. This is necessary given that there is such a high mortality rate for crocodile babies.

Black Babies Were Used as Alligator Bait in the American South? Tales of infants being used as alligator bait were popularized in 19th-century newspapers, on postcards and in racist memorabilia.