The term “Black Friday” originated during the 1869 United States gold market financial crisis. This early incident focused on several key players including President Ulysses Grant, his wife and First Lady, Julia, James Fisk and Jay Gould.
Black Friday Gold Banking
According to Public Broadcasting Station’s (PBS) American Experience official website, Fisk and Gould attempted to corner the gold market by purchasing large amounts of gold to drive the price of the metal up only to sell the product as soon as others began to buy it in large quantities so they would earn a hefty profit.
When President Ulysses Grant thought to exchange gold for paper dollars “greenbacks” in order to stimulate the American economy, Fisk and Gould went to work to convince the president not to get the government involved in such an exchange, a move that would foil Fisk and Gould’s plan.
By the time President Ulysses Grant figured out what had happened and started to sell government gold, $4 million dollars worth, it was too late. September 24, 1869 the United States gold market collapsed. The scandal would follow President Ulysses Grant throughout the remaining years of his presidency.
Black Friday Pennsylvania Traffic Jams
The term “Black Friday” also stems from two incidents that happened in America’s keystone state - Pennsylvania. In 1966, holiday gift shoppers jammed the streets of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on the day after Thanksgiving to the point where the day became referred to by local media as “Black Friday.”
Some accounts attribute early usage of the term “Black Friday” to the Philadelphia Police Department while others attribute The American Philatelist, a Pennsylvania publication created by The American Philatelic Society, with coining the term in Pennsylvania.
In both instances the term “Black Friday” was used to reference the mass of people who filled the streets, sidewalks and stores on the Friday after Thanksgiving. It became a day when cab drivers, shop owners and other people whose jobs required them to be at work on the day after Thanksgiving both loved and at times dreaded the many people who would venture outdoors in search of a good holiday sale.
Mass Holiday Shopping Appeal Follows Thanksgiving Day
Clearly, both the collapse of the United States gold market and the Pennsylvania coining of the term point directly to consumers’ appetite to land a good financial deal. Even during economic downtimes, holiday shoppers take to the streets and visit malls, department stores and online retailers to search for and land spectacular deals on popular, specialty and lesser known items.
November 28, 2008 Bloomberg reported in their “U.S. Black Friday Sales,” article written by Lauren Coleman-Lochner that holiday sales in the United States rose by 3% or $10.6 billion over the previous year. Although the lowest gain for Black Friday shopping in three years, it was a generous leap considering the fact that financial markets were in a global crisis.
Consumers were so eager to land a sale that an employee was trampled to death while working at WalMart in 2008. In the 1980s the widely popular Cabbage Patch dolls saw grown women fighting to grab the last doll so they could give it to their daughter or granddaughter as a Christmas gift. For this reason exercising a healthy dose of patience on Black Friday, one of the largest shopping days in the United States, is always a good deal.
Sources:
PBS Official Website. Ulysses S. Grant. 1 November 2009.
Lauren Coleman-Lochner. “U.S. Black Friday Sales.” Bloomberg Official Website. 1 November 2009.
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