Some people believe the word ‘picnic’ came from white Americans lynching African Americans and say the word is shorthand for “pick-a-nigger”. The truth is picnic is derived from the 17th-century French word ‘picque-nique’, which literally means “each pick a bit”. It referred to a fashionable pot-luck which may or may not have happened outdoors and where every participant brought something to contribute to the meal. The word first appears in France in 1692 and was being used in England by 1800, though it wasn’t used in the United States until later.
The persistent confusion about the origins of the word may come from the picnic-like atmosphere which often accompanied lynchings. Dr. David Pilgrim, curator of the Jim Crow Museum writes, “The word picnic did not begin with the lynching of Black Americans; however, the lynching of blacks often occurred in picnic-like settings.”
Sources
- Ferris State University. 2004. “Blacks, Picnics and Lynchings – January 2004.” Retrieved 10 July 2018 (https://ferris.edu/HTMLS/news/jimcrow/question/2004/january.htm).
- Snopes. 2011. “Did the Word ‘Picnic’ Originate with Lynchings?” Retrieved 10 July 2018 (https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/picnic-etymology/).