Who Invented Black Friday? The Untold Story Of Deal Day

Deals are in right now. November marks the typical beginning of the holiday shopping season for all the holidays crammed into the month before New Year's, as well as the end of November with Thanksgiving feasts and a little football. It all begins with Black Friday, a longstanding custom.

When you hear the phrase "Black Friday," you probably picture people waiting in line or glued to their laptops for the best deals to come up, ready for customers to leap on them, or, if you're older, people shoving their way into stores when they opened the day after Thanksgiving. However, Black Friday wasn't just about shopping. Here's how it got its start and evolved into the beginning of the holiday shopping season.

How old is the Term Black Friday?
Although it wasn't always associated with holiday shopping, Black Friday has grown to be associated with it. According to The History Channel, the word was originally used in reference to a financial crisis, specifically the September 24, 1869, crash of the U.S. gold market.

Black Friday History
The term "Black Friday" first gained popularity in the 1950s in Philadelphia. It was originally coined by the police to describe the chaos that ensued the day after Thanksgiving, when throngs of shoppers flooded the city and tourists arrived for the Army-Navy football game held that Saturday. In an effort to avoid the negative connotations associated with the term, some of the city's largest department stores tried to rebrand the day as "Big Friday." However, by 1961, "Black Friday" had firmly taken hold, according to History.com.