Why Black Friday?

Why Black Friday?

On TV today, the Friday after Thanksgiving, the talk is all about today being Black Friday. I thought Black Friday was a reference to the Wall Street Crash of ’29. I couldn’t see any relationship between that and the possible onslaught of mad bargain hunters Christmas shopping on the day after Thanksgiving. So I looked it up. I found out a lot of things; in fact more than I need to know, so I will unload some of them on you.

First of all there is a good connection between the term Black Friday and the first official day of Christmas shopping; it is supposed to be the first day that merchant's fortunes go into the black, meaning that they make a profit. Black ink as compared to red ink, I guess. I’m not sure about when it’s the first day from. Can it mean it is the first day of the year that they make a profit? Surely merchants can’t stay in a business that stays in the red for almost eleven months of year! Do they depend on just one month of enthusiasm over the birth of Jesus 2007 years ago to spur customers to snatch up enough merchandise for gift-giving to make the whole year profitable! Could they?

Well, anyway, according to Wikipedia, that is the meaning behind the use of the term ‘Black Friday’ as used by those gleeful looking reporters on TV in reference to public shopping sprees.

As for any reference to the Wall Street Crash of 1929, it actually crashed on Black Thursday, Oct. 24, 1929, followed by an even worse crash on Black Tuesday, Oct. 29, 1929, when it fell 22.6 % on that single day. The market reached its lowest level since 1800 on July 8, 1932, and it took until 1954 to regain pre-1929 levels.

But that is not all of what I learned about Black Fridays. There was one in 1869 concerning a financial crisis in the U.S.:

There is a Black Friday from 1910 when a women’s movement in UK failed to get a bill passed.

Two more Black Fridays in 1919 and 1920 in the UK involving labor-unrest .

There is a Black Friday in Australia named so because of devastating fires in 1939.

A Black Friday reference in 1944 stems from a disastrous attack by the Canadian Black Watch at the Battle of Scheldt.

Another WWII Black Friday in 1945 is from the largest air battle over Norway.

There is a Black Friday in Iran that refers to a massacre of peaceful protesters in 1978.

Black Friday also stems from the Argentinean attack on the Falkland Islands in 1982.

I won’t even begin to regurgitate all there is to know about all the other Black-Every-Other-Days-of-the-Week that is out there. I’ll quit while I’m ahead, hoping there is anyone left who read this article all the way to its boring end. It all started because I was just curious.