ObservanceFriday, November 27, 2026
Black Friday
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Black Friday is the Friday after Thanksgiving and the conventional opening of the American Christmas shopping season. The tidy explanation of its name — that it marks the day retailers' books finally turn from red ink to black — is not where the term came from, and Britannica calls that version untrue. The phrase began as a complaint about crowds, in Philadelphia, and was rebranded into a compliment by retailers roughly a quarter of a century later.
History
The name is far older than the shopping day. Researchers at the Oxford English Dictionary trace "Black Friday" to 1610, when it meant any Friday on which an examination fell. The last of the Black Fridays the OED lists is September 24, 1869, when an attempt by the Wall Street financiers Jay Gould and Jim Fisk to corner the national gold market collapsed after President Ulysses S. Grant intervened, sending the market down and thousands of Americans into bankruptcy.
The Thanksgiving link arrived much later, and not as a shopping term. The OED has found no evidence before 1951 of "Black Friday" referring to the day after Thanksgiving, and in that first instance the sense was markedly different: it described absences from factories following the holiday. The earliest citation in the modern sense — the start of the Christmas shopping season — is from 1961.
In between, the phrase belonged to Philadelphia. In the early 1960s police there used it for the congestion created by suburban shoppers and out-of-town visitors, in some years joined by the crowd for Saturday's Army-Navy football game: traffic jams, accidents, shoplifting, and longer shifts for officers. The term took hold locally, and city merchants tried to swap it for "Big Friday." That did not take.
The rehabilitation came from retailers, not police. The red-to-black account did not spread nationwide until the late 1980s, when merchants began promoting it, describing the day as the point at which stores turned a profit for the year and as the biggest shopping day in the country. Britannica notes that neither held up: most stores in fact saw their largest sales on the Saturday before Christmas.
Timeline
- 1610 — The earliest evidence researchers at the Oxford English Dictionary have found for "Black Friday," used then for any Friday on which an examination fell.
- September 24, 1869 — Jay Gould and Jim Fisk's attempt to corner the US gold market collapses after President Grant intervenes. This is the last Black Friday the OED lists, and it has nothing to do with Thanksgiving.
- 1951 — The first known use of "Black Friday" for the day after Thanksgiving, describing absences from factories following the holiday rather than shopping.
- 1961 — The earliest citation of "Black Friday" in its current sense, the start of the Christmas shopping season.
- Early 1960s — Philadelphia police use the term for post-Thanksgiving crowds, traffic, accidents and shoplifting. The term takes root locally; merchants' attempt to rename it "Big Friday" fails.
- Late 1980s — Retailers spread the red-to-black profit story nationwide, recasting the day as a positive one.
How to observe
Treat the advertised discount as a claim rather than a fact. The useful comparison is not the "was" price printed beside the sale price, but what the item actually sold for in the weeks before the sale — which a price-history tool, or your own screenshots from October, will tell you.
If your aim is the lowest price rather than the event itself, the Saturday before Christmas is worth knowing about. Britannica points out that this, not Black Friday, was historically the heaviest sales day for most stores.
For the history, read the Oxford University Press piece on what the OED's evidence actually shows. It is short, and it will leave you skeptical of nearly every Black Friday origin story you encounter, including the confident ones told by large retailers. And if you work in retail or law enforcement, the day is a shift rather than an event — the Philadelphia officers who coined the phrase were not shopping.
Frequently asked questions
Is Black Friday a federal holiday?
No. The 11 legal public holidays listed in 5 U.S.C. 6103(a) include Thanksgiving Day, the fourth Thursday in November, but there is no entry for the day after it. Many employers treat it as a day off regardless, but it has no standing in the federal holiday statute.
Does "Black Friday" refer to retailers going from red ink into the black?
That is the common explanation, and it is not the origin. Britannica states plainly that it is untrue, and dates the red-to-black narrative to the late 1980s, when merchants began promoting it. The phrase was already in use for the day after Thanksgiving decades earlier, and its sense then was negative.
When is Black Friday?
It is the Friday after Thanksgiving, so it moves with Thanksgiving, which federal law sets as the fourth Thursday in November.
Why did Philadelphia police call it Black Friday?
Because of what the day did to the city. Crowds of suburban shoppers and out-of-town visitors, in some years joined by the Army-Navy game crowd, produced traffic jams, accidents, shoplifting and longer shifts for officers.
Was the 1869 gold panic the first Black Friday?
It is often described that way, but the OED's evidence for the phrase goes back further, to 1610. The 1869 crash is the last Black Friday the dictionary lists, and it is unrelated to Thanksgiving or shopping.
When is Black Friday?
| Year | Date | Day |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 | November 27 | Friday |
| 2027 | November 26 | Friday |
| 2028 | November 24 | Friday |
| 2029 | November 23 | Friday |
| 2030 | November 29 | Friday |
Sources
- Oxford University Press, The origin of Black Friday and other black days — https://blog.oup.com/2016/11/origin-black-friday-other-black-days/ → OED's earliest 1610 evidence and the examination sense; no day-after-Thanksgiving evidence before 1951 and that instance's factory-absence sense; the 1961 citation for the Christmas-shopping sense; September 24, 1869 as the last Black Friday the OED lists; the Philadelphia congestion explanation; the red-to-black account presented only as a theory.
- Encyclopaedia Britannica, Why Is It Called Black Friday? — https://www.britannica.com/story/why-is-it-called-black-friday → the red-ink origin stated as untrue; early-1960s Philadelphia police usage; the Army-Navy game in some years; traffic, accidents, shoplifting and longer police shifts; the term taking root locally and the merchants' "Big Friday" attempt; the late-1980s nationwide spread of the red-to-black narrative; the Saturday before Christmas as most stores' largest sales day; Jay Gould, Jim Fisk and President Grant in the 1869 gold panic.
- U.S. Government Publishing Office, United States Code, 2023 Edition, 5 U.S.C. 6103 — https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/USCODE-2023-title5/html/USCODE-2023-title5-partIII-subpartE-chap61-subchapI-sec6103.htm → the 11 legal public holidays; Thanksgiving Day as the fourth Thursday in November; no entry for the day after Thanksgiving.
Omitted for want of an acceptable source: the widely circulated claim that "Black Friday" originally referred to a day on which enslaved people were sold (neither source above addresses it, so it is neither repeated nor debunked here), and the year in which Philadelphia merchants proposed "Big Friday." Source conflict noted: the Oxford University Press account dates the Philadelphia usage only by way of the 1961 citation, while Britannica gives the early 1960s; both are reported above rather than averaged.
Not used as sources: nationaltoday, nationaldaycalendar, checkiday, timeanddate, and comparable aggregator and content-farm pages.
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