Why is it called Black Friday? The real history

Updated November 2, 2026 · Independent guide

"Black Friday" began as a complaint, not a sales pitch. Philadelphia police coined the name in the 1950s and early 1960s for the gridlock on the day after Thanksgiving. The well-known "retailers go from red into the black" story came decades later.

Philadelphia, the 1950s and 1960s

The day after Thanksgiving brought two crowds to Philadelphia: holiday shoppers kicking off the Christmas season, and visitors in town for the Army-Navy football game, which was played in the city around that weekend. For the police traffic squad, that meant long shifts, jammed streets, and crowded stores. Officers started calling the day, and sometimes the Saturday after it, "Black Friday."

The first printed uses

1960: An early print use appeared in Women's Wear Daily on Nov. 28, 1960.
1961: Public Relations News (Dec. 18, 1961) described how Philadelphia merchants and officials disliked "Black Friday" and "Black Saturday" and tried to rebrand the days as "Big Friday" and "Big Saturday." The new name didn't catch on.
1994: Journalist Joseph Barrett retold the Philadelphia police origin in the Philadelphia Daily News, which helped spread it.

The "in the black" explanation

The popular idea that Black Friday is when stores turn a profit for the year, moving "from red ink to black ink," dates to the 1980s. It was a later, more upbeat explanation of a name that already existed. It's a good story, but it isn't the origin.

Cyber Monday arrives (2005)

"Cyber Monday" first appeared in print in late 2005, including in The New York Times on Nov. 19, 2005. It's credited to Shop.org, the National Retail Federation's digital division, which used it to describe the jump in online shopping on the Monday after Thanksgiving. Today it's the biggest online shopping day of the year. See Cyber Monday 2026.

Black Friday today

Black Friday has gone from one day to a whole season. In 2026, Best Buy kicked off deals on Oct. 30, and big chains including Walmart and Best Buy keep stores closed on Thanksgiving Day itself. See the 2026 sale calendar.