Black Friday

Black Friday hasn’t always meant shopping carts and holiday deals. Long before the term existed, the day after Thanksgiving became a shopping tradition simply because it marked the start of the Christmas season. By the late 1800s, department stores capped off their Thanksgiving parades with Santa’s arrival, officially “opening” holiday shopping. And as more workplaces began giving employees the Friday after Thanksgiving off, families suddenly had a long weekend perfect for gift buying.
The tradition grew so strong that in 1939, when Thanksgiving fell unusually late, retailers worried there wouldn’t be enough shopping days before Christmas. They pressured President Franklin D. Roosevelt to move Thanksgiving up a week—and he did. The public erupted in confusion and irritation, calling the new date “Franksgiving.” For two years, Americans celebrated Thanksgiving on different days depending on their state. Schools couldn’t schedule football games correctly, calendars were wrong, and many simply refused to change. The whole incident was a disaster and Congress eventually standardized Thanksgiving in 1941 as the fourth Thursday in November, where it remains.
The term Black Friday came later referring to a specific event in 1959. An extremely popular football game between the army and navy was scheduled for the Saturday after Thanksgiving. With the influx of tourists, holiday travelers and sports enthusiasts, the Philadelphia police were flooded with reports of traffic problems, pickpockets, and immense crowds. They used the term to describe the gridlock and chaos as people flooded the streets. Retailers disliked the negative tone and tried to promoted other terms such as “Big Friday” but nothing stuck. It wasn’t until the late 1980’s that a new explanation was adopted—that it was the day they went from “in the red” to “in the black.”
A few more tidbits:
• The first historical “Black Friday” was actually an 1869 stock market crash.
• Early “doorbusters” were advertised as deals so good you’d “break down the doors.”
• And some of the most charming vintage holiday ads—from toys to toasters—come from Black Fridays long past.