A BLACK WOMAN LYNCHED IN OKLAHOMA 1919
LYNCHING OF THOMAS SHIPP AND ABRAM SMITH IN MARION, INDIANA 1930
LYNCHING OF WILLIAM BROWN IN DOUGLAS COUNTY,NEBRASKA 1919
LYNCHING OF RUBIN STACY IN FORT LAUDERDALE,FLORIDA, 1935
FROM http://www.deplicque.net/articles/StrangeFruit.htm
Here is another little known Black History Fact. This information is in the African American Archives at the Smithsonian Institute. Although not taught in American learning institutions and literature, it is in most Black history professional circles and literature that the origin of the term: ‘picnic’ derives from the acts of lynching African-Americans.
The word: ‘picnic’ is rooted from the whole theme of: ‘Pick A Nigger’.
This is where individuals would: ‘pic’ a Black person to lynch… and make this into: a family gathering…. There would be music and a: ‘picnic’. (‘Nic’ being the white acronym for: ‘nigger’). Scenes of this were in the movie Rosewood. The black producers and writers should have chosen to use the word ‘barbecue’ or ‘outing’ instead of the word ‘picnic’.
To attempt to tie lynchings to family outings, where food was served, is to misunderstand the real nature of these events. Rather, they were outbreaks of mass white hysteria, and attempts by groups of Whites to terrorize and brutalize the entire Black communities where they occurred.
Often, they were motivated by alleged acts of violence by Blacks against Whites, alleged disrespect and other breaches of Southern racial ‘etiquette’, and on many occasions, victims were chosen at random. Although women and children were frequently present, it is more accurate to view these events as collective psychotic behavior, rather than family outings. Lynching had become a ritual of interracial social control and recreation rather than simply a punishment for crime.
BLACK IS BEAUTIFUL! 