From Where Did the Term "Black Friday" Originate?

Black Friday is the day following Thanksgiving Day in the United States. Traditionally, it is the beginning of the Christmas shopping season. The term, Black Friday, dates back to around 1966, but was primarily an East coast term. However, since 2000 the term has become more common in other parts throughout the United States.

It's been reported that in 2007 there were 135 million people who took part in the Black Friday shopping frenzy; actually more than turned out to vote in the 2008 United States presidential election.

Black Friday is not an official American holiday, however, many employees have the day off. Of course, people who work in retail, health care, and banking, normally, do not have the day off. Stores are decorated for the Christmas season several weeks before Thanksgiving, and many retailers open unusually early on Black Friday. Some stores open as early as 3 AM, and some open at midnight on Black Friday and remain open for 24 hours.

The term, Black Friday, originated in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in reference to the congested highways on that day. Later, merchants used the term to indicate the beginning of the sales period in which they go from being in the red (or negative sales) to being in the black (reaping profits).

As far back as the nineteenth century, Black Friday has been used in many contexts. The earliest use of "Black Friday" was to describe a day where highways were filled with traffic. The earliest reference to "Black Friday," in relation to congested traffic flow was in 1965, and indicates that Philadelphia was the origin.

According to the American Dialect Society, Philadelphia Police Department gave the Friday after Thanksgiving Day the name "Black Friday." They did not refer to this specific day with fondness or endearment. Instead, Philadelphia experienced crowds in center city, traffic jams, and over-crowded sidewalks as shoppers mobbed the downtown stores.

Black Friday was used to describe the opening of the Christmas shopping season. Despite the economy woes, in 1975, people set out on buying sprees despite the down economy. According to the Associated Press, elevators were a vision on nonstop people, cabs and buses could not keep up with the demand for transportation, and traffic cops had trouble trying to control crowds of jaywalkers. Black Friday was associated and considered, to Philadelphia police, as a day of headaches.