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The history of Thanksgiving -- FDR moved the holiday to support the holiday shopping season. Black Friday has not really been about dumping excess inventory bu
by pirate787 5y ago
The history of Thanksgiving -- FDR moved the holiday to support the holiday shopping season. Black Friday has not really been about dumping excess inventory but as the beginning for the holiday shopping season..."black" references the profit retailers make, going from red to black for the year.
https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/franklin-roosevelt-moved-thanksgiving-to-goose-the-economy-and-chaos-ensued/ https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/franklin-roosevelt...
- cyberlurker 5y agoFantastic article. I didn’t realize how polarized things were. “Public opinion split along political lines. A Gallup Poll showed Democrats favored the switch 52% to 48%, while Republicans opposed it 79% to 21%.”
- CallMeJim 5y agoThis is entirely unrelated, but it's unusual to see "black" used in a positive sense... Just thinking about all the phrases it's been used negatively in (eg "black sheep of the family"). I'm entirely uninvested in the US culture war, but it's good to see something on the positive side of the ledger.
- allen_lasn 5y agoThe name Black Friday comes from the nightmare experienced by store staff, shoppers, mall cops, etc on a day of extreme overcrowding and sometimes fights over discounted items. The reference to being 'in the black' was invented afterwards to try and make the name seem more positive.