Black Friday in the United States didn’t begin as a cheerful shopping tradition at all. Its origins are messy, rooted in chaos, commerce, and clever reinvention.
The first known use of the term “Black Friday” dates back to September 24, 1869, when two Wall Street financiers, Jay Gould and James Fisk, attempted to corner the U.S. gold market. Their scheme backfired spectacularly when the government intervened, causing gold prices to collapse and triggering a financial panic. The resulting crash devastated the U.S. economy for months, and the day became known as Black Friday because of its impact on the financial markets.
The phrase re-emerged in a completely different way in the 1950s and early 1960s in Philadelphia. Police officers there used “Black Friday” to describe the day after American Thanksgiving, when massive crowds and traffic congestion took over the city. Suburban shoppers would pour into downtown for early Christmas deals, while the Army-Navy football game often took place on the same weekend, making the streets even more chaotic. For police and transit workers, it was long, exhausting, and frustrating — truly a “black” day.
At first, retailers hated the negative term and tried unsuccessfully to rebrand it as “Big Friday.” But in the late 1970s and 1980s, the retail industry pivoted and transformed the meaning. They promoted the idea that “black” referred to the moment stores moved from being “in the red” (losing money) to “in the black” (profitable), thanks to heavy holiday-season sales. That marketing pivot stuck — and turned a chaotic day into a national shopping event.
By the 1990s and 2000s, Black Friday had become one of the biggest retail days of the year in the U.S., famously marked by:
Overnight lineups outside stores
Doorbuster deals with huge discounts
Stampedes and chaotic crowds (sometimes dangerous)
The unofficial start of the Christmas shopping season
Then came the real turning point: the internet.
As e-commerce grew in the early 2000s, Black Friday expanded online. Soon after, “Cyber Monday” was introduced for online-only deals. Together, they created a massive global shopping window that now lasts days or even weeks.
From there, Black Friday spread across borders.
Retailers in Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, parts of Europe, Latin America, India, the Middle East, and even Africa began adopting the concept. At first, it made little cultural sense in countries that don’t celebrate American Thanksgiving. But global brands, social media, and e-commerce flattened those differences. “Black Friday” became less about a date on the American calendar and more about a global symbol for huge sales and limited-time deals.
In many countries today, Black Friday is now:
One of the biggest annual retail events
A key driver of e-commerce sales
An adapted local holiday tied to end-of-year shopping
A marketing term disconnected from its American origins
Some nations stretched it into “Black Week” or “Black November,” starting in early or mid-November and extending into December. In others, it has been merged with local holidays, festivals, or end-of-year traditions.
Ironically, a term born from financial disaster and civic frustration evolved into a symbol of consumer optimism and commercial opportunity. It’s a perfect example of how language, capitalism, and culture reshape history.
In short:
Black Friday began in U.S. financial disaster.
It was revived by police to describe chaos.
Retailers rebranded it as a profit celebration.
The internet made it global.
Now it is one of the largest shopping events in the world, adopted by almost every major economy.
If you’d like, I can also break down how Black Friday affects different countries’ economies and local shopping culture today.
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