On Jun 23, 2007, at 8:30 PM, gcg wrote:

> While there has been some discussion as to an urban legend that the  
> word
> picnic is derived from the term "pick a ni$$er," one can say that  
> this is
> not the case. Yet, with the majority of myths circulating if one  
> digs deep
> enough the is a modicum of truth that is usually wrapped in a lie.
>
> As genealogists, both amateur and professional, it is our duty to  
> seek the
> truth. The word picnic does have a connection not to derogatory  
> terms about
> African Americans. But, it does have a connection to derogatory  
> actions and
> terrorism done to African Americans.
>
> The lynching of African slave descendants in the South especially  
> during the
> post "Reconstruction" era and the days of the "Jim Crow" laws took  
> on morbid
> carnival atmospheres including picnics, picture taking, and  
> postcards. These
> are no urban legends. The work picnic can be considered derogatory  
> as these
> public spectacles and historical proof in the words of the terrorists
> themselves are preserved for the whole world to see.

...snip...
>
> So now you know the rest of the story, and have a good picnic or  
> barbeque
> even though it is now illegal to watch a ni$$er swing.

I cringed when I read that last paragraph, although I understand the  
context in which it was used. I find it laudatory that perceptions of  
the use of such terms have changed for the better in the last 40  
years for the vast majority of Americans.

But, I do have to question whether it was ever legal to watch a  
lynching. Lynching was murder, pure and simple. The vast crowds so  
memorialized in those macabre photos and postcards would today  
presumably be charged as accessories. Would I be correct in assuming  
that laws were written outlawing the watching of lynching as a  
response to it?

Lyle Browning