The origin of Black Friday
Black Friday is the starting point of Christmas shopping. It is a relatively recent tradition in many other corners of the planet that has been imported from the United States, like many other events (Halloween in its modern sense). Basically, it consists of a massive drop in prices, and although the greatest attention is paid to electronic and computer products, it is already common for stores of all kinds to join in this celebration. During Black Friday, sales skyrocket, so much so that some stores make their own August. But hey, all these you already knew, right? Let’s see where that Black Friday comes from.
The celebration of Black Friday does not take place on a specific date of the calendar each year, but it is celebrated on the Friday following Thanksgiving. Therefore, in 2024, Black Friday will be Friday, November 23, just the day after that very familiar and deeply rooted holiday in the United States. In some places, you will find that “Black Friday” takes place “the last Friday of November,” but it does not seem to be true since in 2024, that last Friday is Friday 30, and it is not that day when we will go crazy buying.
As I told you before, although today Black Friday is a positive event, with offers and discounts on thousands of products and thousands of stores, the origin of the expression is not related to these opportunities, nor to Christmas shopping. The origin of Black Friday is linked to the first crises of capitalism.
Jay Gould and Jim Fisk, two gentlemen, dedicated to banking, finance, and investment in Wall Street (New York Stock Exchange, United States), tried to obtain great benefits. However, all their efforts did not help much, and the Friday, September 24, 1869, the market went bankrupt. That is why that day began to be known as “Black Friday,” possessing negative connotations that do not occur today for the modern event. But this is not the only explanation of Black Friday.
The story that has ended up configuring what we know today as Black Friday is also related to small business. They count on lands of Trump that there was a year in which all were losses and therefore, red numbers. However, the day after Thanksgiving, profits began to register, and those red numbers turned into blacks, hence the “Black Friday,” this time, with a positive connotation much more in line with its current meaning.
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And if we continue advancing in the timeline, it was the prestigious newspaper The New York Times that, on November 19, 1975, spoke for the first time of “Black”, this time referring to the chaos experienced in the city of New York the day after Thanksgiving due to the powerful discounts offered by many businesses.
As you go, Black Friday has been configured over the years and has a long history behind it. Of course, always linked to the United States until very recent times.
