Where the term "Black Friday" came from

[jklotz]

Useless trivia for the day: The earliest evidence of the phrase Black Friday originated in Philadelphia, dating back to 1961, where it was used by police to describe the heavy pedestrian and vehicular traffic that would occur on the day after Thanksgiving.

[Dru Edwards]

I read the same thing. I Googled a little more and found the following on dictionary. com: "In the 1950s, factory managers first started referring to the Friday after Thanksgiving as Black Friday because so many of their workers decided to falsely call in sick, thus extending the holiday weekend"

Source: https://www.dictionary.com/e/black-friday/

[robj144]

I always thought it was called Black Friday because retailers saw so much business, they have a chance to go from red to black profit wise for the year.

[12barBill]

Originally Posted by robj144

I always thought it was called Black Friday because retailers saw so much business, they have a chance to go from red to black profit wise for the year.

That's what I have always heard the term represented.

[Dru Edwards]

Originally Posted by robj144

I always thought it was called Black Friday because retailers saw so much business, they have a chance to go from red to black profit wise for the year.

I read that's not how the term Black Friday initially came to represent the day after Thanksgiving, although it is a major revenue generator and at some point became part of describing the day.

[The Growler]

Originally Posted by robj144

I always thought it was called Black Friday because retailers saw so much business, they have a chance to go from red to black profit wise for the year.

Originally Posted by 12barBill

That's what I have always heard the term represented.

Originally Posted by Dru Edwards

I read that's not how the term Black Friday initially came to represent the day after Thanksgiving, although it is a major revenue generator and at some point became part of describing the day.

This is the real source of it I think and always heard.

I had two client companies (retail) tell me that they saw 90% of their annual profit in the six weeks between Thanksgiving and New Years. That was why they called it Black Friday as that was when they went into the black.

[Bob Womack]

HERE is an interesting historical write-up going back to September 24, 1869. The term was first associated with financial crashes.

Originally Posted by Dru Edwards

I read the same thing. I Googled a little more and found the following on dictionary. com: "In the 1950s, factory managers first started referring to the Friday after Thanksgiving as Black Friday because so many of their workers decided to falsely call in sick, thus extending the holiday weekend"

Source: https://www.dictionary.com/e/black-friday/

Yep, that was next.

Originally Posted by The Growler

This is the real source of it I think and always heard.

I had two client companies (retail) tell me that they saw 90% of their annual profit in the six weeks between Thanksgiving and New Years. That was why they called it Black Friday as that was when they went into the black.

That association apparently emerged in the 1980s. I can tell you that my wife used to be a manager in a large retail chain and that figure was indeed what was the financial figure passed around.

Bob

[FLRon]

I wonder how many people know that president FDR moved Thanksgiving up one week in 1939 in order to kick start a depression laden economy?
Turns out, the masses didn’t like it and just two years later it was moved back to the fourth Thursday in November, just as Lincoln had originally decreed it would be.

[Tahitijack]

Retail sales from the day after Thanksgiving put stores on the track to a balance sheet of black (profit wise) after slogging through a year of being pretty much in the red of loss on the balance sheet. It was an accounting term.