How Did Black Friday Get The Name?
Black Friday today is seen as a day to get great deals on items and gift them during the holiday season. But according to the internet, it's actually unclear.
The term was used in early social media, explaining Black Friday to be the day after thanksgiving where slave owners would show off and sell their slaves to the highest bidder. However, the term wasn't used until 1951, almost 100 years after the abolishment.
According to Snopes.com Black Friday was a term in the 50's used to describe workers calling in the day after Thanksgiving so they would get a four day weekend.
A decade later the term was used "Black Friday" (and "Black Saturday" as well) as being commonly used in a derisive sense by Philadelphia police, when shoppers would add to the Police Officers work hours with all the extra shopping.
Reporter Joseph P. Barrett coined the term in a Philadelphia article in the 1960's "This Friday was Black With Traffic."
So not a term to describe slavery, but maybe a term to describe shopping madness, what do you think?