Jacob Lawrence’s They Arrived in Pittsburgh (1941)

Jacob Lawrence’s They Arrived in Pittsburgh (1941)

The yellow basket and the yellow summer hat in They Arrived in Pittsburgh suggest that there will be a picnic. The grimy factory stacks spewing smoke suggest otherwise. The basket and hat symbolize the hope that in Pittsburgh (or any other industrial city), the...
Jacqueline Woodson’s We Had a Picnic Sunday Past  (1997)

Jacqueline Woodson’s We Had a Picnic Sunday Past (1997)

Woodson’s We Had a Picnic This Sunday Past (1997) is a joyous family gathering with mounds to eat. It’s a story about an African American family reunion picnic in an urban park. The narrator, a young girl, comes with her Grandma, who has worked frying...
Monica Ali’s Brick Lane (2003)

Monica Ali’s Brick Lane (2003)

Ali’s family picnic is outwardly happy but inwardly troubled. After twenty years, Nazneen’s marriage to Chanu Ahmed has gone wobbly. She’s never loved Chanu, but at the time of the picnic, she’s conflicted by guilt and lust-fueled by Karim, a Muslim political activist...