Blog 3676 – 11.28.2025

The History of Black Friday

The Friday following Thanksgiving has traditionally been the official beginning of the Christmas shopping season, hence Santa Claus himself being the concluding float in the Macy’s and other department store Thanksgiving parades around the country. It is called Black Friday because many retailer’s accounts would be in the red, but for the additional sales during the Christmas shopping season.

Originally the Thanksgiving holiday was observed on the last Thursday of November, but at the insistence of the retain business owners in 1939 President Franklin Roosevelt changed it to the fourth Thursday of November adding a few days to the Christmas shopping season. I personally benefited from that change because Thanksgiving falling on the second to last instead of the last Thursday in November means that occasionally the 22nd of November, my birthday, falls on Thanksgiving.

In the same way that I celebrate my birthday week, Black Friday has extended to Cyber Monday and Cyber week. As a boy I recall that my mother’s older sister Katherine, who always tried to give everyone in our ever growing extended family a Christmas gift, began her Christmas shopping for the next Christmas on the day after Christmas. The retailers loved her, all her family did too, and many seem to have followed her example.

Happy Black Friday!

Your friend and fellow traveler,

David James White