Why It’s Called “Black Friday” | Smartest Year Ever (Nov 27, 2025)
About this episode
Ever wonder why it’s called “Black Friday” — and how a term that once meant financial ruin ended up describing holiday shopping chaos?
In this episode, Gordy traces the strange evolution of “Black Friday” from an 1869 Wall Street panic to a Philadelphia police nickname, to one of the most profitable (and perilous) shopping days in modern history. Along the way, he unpacks how marketing spin, linguistic twists, and American consumer culture transformed a phrase of misery into one of money.
From Jay Gould and James Fisk’s gold market collapse, to Philly cops battling post-Thanksgiving mayhem, to the retail myth of “from red to black”, this story reveals how language, capitalism, and chaos collide in the modern holiday season.
Watch to discover how “Black Friday” survived three lives — panic, policing, and profit — and what it says about how we turn disaster into tradition.
Music thanks to Zapsplat.
Sources
The New York Times. (1869, September 25). Gold Panic on Wall Street.
Philadelphia Inquirer archives. (1961).
Britannica. (2024). Why Is It Called Black Friday?
History.com. (2024). The History of Black Friday.
TIME Magazine. (2021). How Black Friday Became a Shopping Holiday.
#BlackFriday #HolidayHistory #RetailFacts #AmericanHistory #ShoppingFacts #funfacts #DailyFacts #blackfridayhistory #historyfacts #thanksgiving #thanksgivingfacts #holidayfacts
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