Black Friday 2024 has finally arrived, and as shoppers across the country spend hours sweeping through online and in-store deals, many Americans may not be familiar with the dark and criminal history of the day that spans back centuries.
The original term Black Friday actually comes from September 24, 1869, when a market crash occurred, causing the stock market to drop over 20%. This event was a “huge financial crime” in history, orchestrated by two infamous American financiers, Jay Gould and Jim Fisk, who concocted a scheme to corner the gold market, leading to widespread panic across the country and many people being driven to bankruptcy.
Gould and Fisk planned to buy up all the gold they could and corner the market, but they needed help from someone in the government. They befriended President Ulysses S. Grant’s brother-in-law, Abel Rathbone Corbin, and paid him off to get in his ear and persuade the president not to release more gold into the market. As a result, the price of gold skyrocketed, and Gould and Fisk were able to corner the market.
However, President Grant soon became uncomfortable with his brother-in-law’s involvement and ordered the sale of millions of dollars in gold, causing the price of gold to plummet almost immediately. This event became known as Black Friday.
The next period of dark history surrounding the term Black Friday began in the mid-20th century in Philadelphia. In the 1950s, the city’s police department was overwhelmed with football fans, tourists, and shoppers, leading to reports of shoplifting and stores being overwhelmed. This period is where the term Black Friday originated, and retailers later changed it to Big Friday to remove the negative connotation.
The more recent background behind the Black Friday term is a financial interpretation that began in the 1980s. Accountants of major retailers noticed that before Thanksgiving, they were operating at a loss, but after Thanksgiving, they would experience a huge boom in sales, turning their profits from red to black.
Despite Black Friday’s evolution into a positive highlight of the year, symbolizing the start of the holiday shopping season, it is important to understand the darker history of the day. Financial adviser Bryan Kuderna noted that it is crucial to know where we’ve come from so we don’t make mistakes again.
