I’m amused that you call that the most credible source for the myth. It repeats the usual links and offers this bizarre rationalization: “my question is, what evidence was provided to Time to discount the accuracy of Villiers’ account”

The question any real historian would ask is not about the evidence to discount, but the evidence to prove. There is none.

Out of curiosity, who do you think sold Africans to Europeans?

And in every version of the myth, the parents or guardians are happy to let their babies be used as bait because they’re paid a couple of dollars or pounds, depending on where the story is told. The zoo story is unusual because it doesn’t have that detail.

I mention the myth about Jews because there is just as much evidence for it—which is to say, none. There are only drawings and assertions.

PS. My ancestors fought for the Union. So far as I know, they never lived in a slave state, and if they did, it’s unlikely that they could have afforded a slave. That was a privilege of rich Americans of all races.