Why 'Black' Friday ?

The history of Black Friday started much earlier than we all think. The day after Thanksgiving was the unofficial beginning of the Christmas season since the late 19th century. President Lincoln designated the Thanksgiving holiday as the last Thursday in November.

It wasn't called Black Friday then. That's because the name was associated with September 24, 1869. Two speculators created a boom-and-bust in the gold market.

The Black Friday name itself didn't become famous until 1966. That's when a story appeared in an ad in The American Philatelist, a stamp collectors' magazine. The Philadelphia Police Department used the name to describe the traffic jams and crowding in the downtown stores.