Well, no wonder there was no citations, or places to find the truth. 
Thank you for clearing this up. 

Anita 




-- cagney <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
Anita,

According to The Word Detective (http://word-detective.com), in a 
column 
published in newspapers on 11/05/98:

"This horrifying story is, as I'm sure you suspect, not even remotely 
true. 
'Picnic' first appeared in English in 1748, apparently borrowed 
directly 
from the French 'piquenique,' which combined 'piquer' (pick) with the 
obsolete French word 'nique' (trifle). The first picnics were what we 
would 
call pot-luck dinners. Only in the mid-19th century did 'picnic' come 
to 
mean a meal eaten outdoors. There is not, and never was, a secret 
racist 
history to 'picnic.'"

Thank goodness that it is only an urban legend!

Jean Spradlin-Miller

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Anita Wills" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Saturday, June 23, 2007 2:18 PM
Subject: Re: Violent holidays (was Re: Juneteenth)


>I heard many years ago that pic nic, was a derogatory term for 
African 
>Americans. I did not research this term, but understood that it 
referred to 
>finding and killing a black person, and then having a Pic nic. Maybe 
>someone else knows exactly what the historical significance is of 
this 
>word.
>
> Anita 


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