How did the Friday after Thanksgiving become black?

SEELEY LAKE – Thanksgiving was once a full, laid-back day of families gathering to visit and feast at a giant potluck. Today, Thanksgiving has to share time with football games and pre-mature Black Friday shopping. But how did the day after Thanksgiving get such a black name?

It is not called black because it encroaches on the Thursday holiday. Nor is it true the name refers to windfall merchandise sales which supposedly marked when stores stopped operating at a loss ("in the red") and finally began making a profit ("in the black").

Even less true is the 2014 rumor that the name commemorates the day when slave traders sold slaves for a discount. Though that story fooled a few celebrities who posted it on their Instagram and Facebook pages -- garnering more than 34,000 "likes" and 269,000 shares – the rumor was quickly debunked by the fact-checking website Snopes.

In fact, the first recorded use of the term Black Friday had nothing to do with retail sales, slaves or holiday shopping. It referred instead to a financial crisis, the US gold market crash that occurred Friday, Sept. 24, 1869. When a scheme to corner the gold market failed, the economy collapsed. In one day, people ranging from Wall Street barons to family farmers suddenly found themselves bankrupt.

So how did the term coined for that black day get transferred to every Friday after Thanksgiving? It first got attached to the phenomenon of production workers calling in sick in order to merge Thanksgiving Day and the following weekend into a four-day holiday. In 1951 an article entitled "What to do about 'Friday After Thanksgiving,'" appeared in the November issue of the journal "Factory Management and Maintenance."

The article started out: "Friday-after-Thanksgiving-itis" is a disease second only to the bubonic plague in its effects. At least that's the feeling of those who have to get production out, when the "Black Friday" comes along. The shop may be half empty, but every absentee was sick - and can prove it."

Further adding to Black Friday's infamy was the term's informal adoption by Philadelphia police, who also coined the term "Black Saturday." Their reasons were intertwined with the traditional Army-Navy football game.

The Army-Navy gridiron rivalry began in 1890, the first game taking place on Nov. 29, the Saturday after Thanksgiving. According to Army records, that game was played on "The Plain" at West Point, NY and each Army Cadet contributed 52 cents to pay for half the Navy's costs to travel from Annapolis, MD. For the next few years teams alternated home field advantage but by 1899 they settled on a location roughly equidistant to their two academies: Franklin Field, Philadelphia, PA. Though sporadically subsequent Army-Navy games were played in different locations, the majority of the annual games were played in Philadelphia on the Saturday after Thanksgiving.

Huge numbers of those traveling to attend the game arrived the Friday before to take advantage of the opportunity for big city shopping.

According to Beliefnet website, "The chaos overwhelmed local police as shoplifting increased and the overall mayhem from the crowds stretched traffic cops. Cops were on-call and were working 12-hour shifts to the point of exhaustion." Among themselves the days were called Black Friday and Black Saturday.

The name gained popularity with people as well as police. However, merchants and city promoters became concerned about the name's negative connotations. In 1961 they made an attempt to rebrand the days "Big Friday" and 'Big Saturday," but those tags never received the popularity "black" did. In fact, other cities across the nation adopted the phrase and began advertising special sales to entice customers to shop on Black Friday.

Large retail stores also began opening earlier in order to attract customers before they moved on to competitors' stores. Eventually a 6 a.m. opening time became common but by the year 2000, some stores announced openings of 5 a.m. or even 4 a.m. The results were so successful that in 2011 several major retailers declared a midnight opening. The public responded by bundling up and standing in line for hours prior to midnight, some even bringing tents and camping out.

The extreme competitiveness these promotions and time shifts engendered resulted in a number of violent interchanges. From 2006 to 2017, 10 reported deaths and more than 110 injuries occurred throughout the United States in connection with Black Friday. One of the most egregious incidents included the trampling to death of a Walmart employee as the crowd exploded into the store as soon as he unlocked the doors. Knife and shooting injuries and deaths have also occurred, some associated with attempted thefts in parking lots as shoppers took their purchases to their cars. In a 2011 instance, a woman pepper-sprayed shoppers, allegedly to keep them from grabbing all the Xbox 260s before she could get her hands on one.

Unphased by such incidents, both stores and shoppers continued to feed one another's frenzy. In 2012, some stores illogically declared Black Friday would begin Thursday at 8 p.m. or 9 p.m. or, in some cases, as early as 1 p.m. in the afternoon. That same year Target advertised, "Black Friday deals all Thanksgiving Day" and Bass Pro Shops announced a Wednesday through Sunday five-day run, including remaining open regular store hours Thanksgiving Day.

Throughout these years of holiday shopping creep, the internet was becoming more and more of a factor. The National Retail Federation noticed a trend toward online shopping the Monday after Black Friday. Capitalizing on the trend, websites began offering special discounts and promotions on what NRF named Cyber Monday. According to Wikipedia, 2017 Cyber Monday sales reached a record $6.59 billion.

Another marketing movement squeezed into the busy week/weekend surrounding Thanksgiving was labeled Small Business Saturday. Initiated by American Express on Nov. 27, 2010, the campaign was designed to provide support to small businesses struggling for viability against big box retail and e-commerce competition. American Express employed social media, advertising and public relations to promulgate the event. Many local politicians, including President Obama, backed the movement. Like Cyber Monday, Small Business Saturday grew in popularity.

By 2017 the Farm Bureau Financial Services website reported the following facts about Small Business Saturday 2017:

• An estimated 108 million consumers reported shopping or dining at local independently-owned businesses.

• Roughly $12 billion was spent on Small Business Saturday in 2017.

• According to 90 percent of consumers surveyed, Small Business Saturday has had a positive impact on their community.

• For every $100 spent at a local business, approximately $68 stays within the community.

As for 2018, Black Friday ads came out in early November and predictions are that Thanksgiving Thursday, Black Friday, Small Business Saturday and Cyber Monday will all outpace 2017 records.