Each year the famous sales weekend, which follows the American holiday of Thanksgiving sees a significant number of shoppers head to out to stores or online in an attempt to find the best deals of the year.
Yet, many people are unaware of the history of this odd shopping phenomenon.
The term “Black Friday” was first associated with a financial crisis; when two Wall Street financiers Jim Fisk and Jay Gould, together bought huge amounts of US gold in the hope of artificially raising its value and in turn being able to sell it for huge profits.
On Friday, September 24 1869, in what became referred to as “Black Friday”, the US gold market crashed and Fisk and Gould’s actions left Wall Street barons bankrupt.
Black Friday started being associated with shopping when shops in the US recorded their accounting details by hand, they noted profits in black and losses in red.
It is thought that many shops were “in the red” throughout most of the year but they later “went into the black” the day after Thanksgiving, when shoppers bought a significant amount of discounted merchandise.
