What is the story behind Thanksgiving and Black Friday?
                     What is the story behind 
Thanksgiving and Black 
Friday?
Thanksgiving & Black Friday
 Thanksgiving marks the unofficial beginning of the Christmas 
holidays, which is followed by Black Friday, a day known for crazy 
shopping deals.
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Story of Black Friday
 Black Friday was actually not related to shopping, but that of a 
financial crisis! 
 Two notorious Wall street financiers, Jay Gould and Jim Fisk, bought 
most of U.S’ Gold stocks so that gold prices skyrocket and they can 
make huge profits.
 
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Story of Black Friday
 Instead of making profits, they made all Wall Street barons go 
bankrupt and the country’s economy collapsed with prices for 
commodities becoming sky high.
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Traditional story
 Businesses in the U.S recorded losses in red and profits in black. It 
was believed that on the day after Thanksgiving, people spend so 
much money that all businesses earn great profits, hence ‘black’.
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The name
 The name Black Friday was first coined by police officers 
of Philadelphia when huge crowds came to the city on 
the day after Thanksgiving creating chaos and traffic 
jams.
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Popularity
 In the 1960s, the name Black Friday for the day after 
Thanksgiving increased in popularity as more retailers and 
media used the name.
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Modern history
 Sales in November is usually more than other months and it was got 
more popular as years passed by.
 Retailer giant Macy’s was the first to advertise post Thanksgiving 
day as Black Friday
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Black Friday today
 Millions of shoppers in U.S hit the stores and websites 
for the best deals and crazy discounts on all products. 
 Americans spend about $6 billion every year on this day.
cnbc.com
Around the world
 The concept of Black Friday was introduced in UK, Brazil, India, 
Europe and many other countries, where it has been successful in 
increasing sales and boosting revenue.
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