The term Black Friday was first used to describe the financial crisis of Friday, September 24, 1869, the day the US gold market crashed. It was indeed a “dark day”.
The modern use of the historic term Black Friday started in the consumer-goods-crazy, post-war 1950’s. People started taking the Friday after Thanksgiving Day off in large numbers to hit the stores and start their holiday shopping. The sheer volume of shoppers caused traffic accidents and violence amongst shoppers waiting in line to get into the stores or fighting over merchandise. Because of all of the problems caused store owners started calling it Black Friday.
Due to the advent of online shopping Cyber Monday was introduced, with deals for those who’d rather stay comfy on their couch than weather the throngs at the local malls! With our current Covid-19 situation staying at home and not going shopping is what we should all be doing. But, we can still shop and support local, small businesses by phoning them or going to their website to place an order for items and arrange curbside pick up.