Black Friday Origins

The cold November wind nips at your face as you wait in the long line wrapped around the outside of the store. A worker, presumably the manager, walks out to greet everyone before flinging the doors wide open. You, along with the rest of the crowd, rush inside in hopes of being one of the lucky few to snag a super deal. As you sprint towards the electronics you feel yourself slipping and fall to the ground! Laying there you feel the feet of strangers above trample over you and begin to wonder, how did this all start? 

People fighting over TVs on Black Friday. Public Domain.

Financial Crisis

The first recorded use of the term “black friday” marked the United States gold market crash of September 24, 1869. Wall Street financier Jay Gould and railroad magnate Jim Fisk hatched a plan to make them both insanely rich. Their idea was to buy up as much of the nation's gold as they could so that the price would skyrocket, then they would sell it and reap huge profits. However their scheme did not go as planned. It hinged on the hopes that the Federal Government would not sell any of its reserve gold, which they were mostly able to ensure through their political influence. However President Ulysses S. Grant caught wind of their plan and in an attempt to protect the market he ordered that $4 million worth of government gold be sold. Unfortunately for much of the country this countermeasure backfired, and the price of gold plummeted taking the rest of the market with it. From farmers and small business owners to titans of wall street, nearly everyone went bankrupt. 

Jay Gould. Courtesy of the Texas State Library and Archives Commission.

The Common Story 

Obviously the modern Black Friday is not centered around a financial collapse, so where did it come from? The most common story was invented by retailers as a way to bring in more holiday shoppers. When bookkeeping was still done by hand losses and profits were recorded in red and black respectively. It is said that for the whole year retail stores operate at a loss, in the red, but the day after Thanksgiving they begin to turn a profit due to holiday shoppers and go in the black. In order to rake in more sales retailers began to offer large discounts the day after Thanksgiving, creating the modern holiday. This story has some truth to it but is not the direct origin. 

An example of old school bookkeeping. Courtesy of the Mathematical Association of America.

The Real Story 

In the 1950s police in Philadelphia used the term “black friday” to describe the mass disorder that happened the day after Thanksgiving. On that Friday the city was swamped with tourists who came to see the annual Army-Navy football game that occurred on the following Saturday. No officers were allowed to take this day off and had to work 12+ hour shifts to deal with the crowds and backed up traffic. On top of this headache was the fact that shoplifters took advantage of the chaos, and stole thousands of dollars worth of merchandise. Other towns had similar problems, though nowhere to Philly’s extent, as many people called in sick the day after Thanksgiving so that they could have a four day weekend. Eventually many employers decided to just close on this day too even though it is not an official holiday. 

By 1961 the term had spread to the general populace of Philly and retailers tried to rebrand the day as “Big Friday” in an attempt to remove the negativity that surrounded it, but the name never caught on. The black friday term began to spread outside of Philly in the early 1980s, but it was not nationally known until around 1985. Sometime late in that decade retailers decided to reinvent the day to something positive by offering deals and discounts to consumers. Around this time is when the common “black and red” story came about. The day began to really take off in the 1990s when newspaper ads and TV advertisements blasted Black Friday deals. This move turned out to be marketing genius as Black Friday was officially designated the largest shopping day of the year in the early 2000s, it had previously been the Saturday before Christmas. 

A newspaper headline showing the attempted transition to “Big Friday.” Courtesy of Fishwrap Newspapers.

A Darker Origin? 

In the past several years a rumor has surfaced that tries to bathe Black Friday in a much darker light. It has been claimed that in the 1800s black slaves were bought and sold at a discount the day after Thanksgiving so that plantation owners could remove any excess labor before winter came. This rumor has gained quite a bit of traction on social media, even gaining the attention of several government officials and celebrities, and has caused some to call for a boycott of the holiday. However there is no evidence that this claim is true; it is nothing but a myth that gained too much notoriety thanks to the internet. 

Artist depiction of an 1800s slave auction. Public Domain.

Modern Black Friday

Black Friday continues to be the largest shopping day of the year. In 2019 over 177 million people took part in Black Friday shopping and spent a total of $7.5 billion, electronics and toys making up the bulk of these purchases. Black Friday has also encouraged the start of other retail holidays such as Cyber Monday and Small Business Saturday/Sunday. While internet sales have overtaken in store purchases Black Friday remains the number one day for retailers, though many experts expect Cyber Monday to overtake it soon. The holiday is not just contained to the United States anymore, other countries such as Canada and the United Kingdom “celebrate” it too. 

Black Friday is also seen as a sort of  litmus test for how well the economy is doing. Those who subscribe to the Keynesian way of thinking believe that the more people spend on this day the healthier the economy is. However many economists look at it as only short term gains. 

A massive line of people lining up inside of a mall waiting for Black Friday to start. Courtesy of Eric Thayer/Reuters.

Personal Thoughts 

Black Friday has always sort of intrigued me because when I was a kid I remember people making a big deal about it but my family never took part in it. To this day I don’t ever go out and buy anything. I have bought things online on Black Friday but that's really the extent of it. I would say I take up with what my pastor says about the day, it’s sad that a day after we’re supposed to be thankful for what we have people go out and trample each other for the newest toy. Like I said I’ve bought things but I would not consider myself the average Black Friday shopper. I never buy anything off of impulse, what I buy are generally things I’ve been wanting but have just waited for the best deal to come along before purchasing them. 

I will say that it does feel like it would be entertaining to go and be a part of one of those massive crowds and see how people treat each other, but it’s really just not for me. 

Sources 

Cover photo courtesy of Hotmart

https://www.history.com/news/whats-the-real-history-of-black-friday

https://www.thebalance.com/why-is-it-called-black-friday-3305712

https://blackfriday.com/news/black-friday-history

https://www.investopedia.com/terms/b/blackfriday.asp

https://www.bbc.com/news/newsbeat-30241594

https://www.britannica.com/event/Black-Friday