Every year for the past several years, a rumor tying slavery to the origins of “Black Friday” surfaces online around Thanksgiving.
It’s unclear when this rumor started, but even History.com has addressed the falsehood:
In recent years, another myth has surfaced that gives a particularly ugly twist to the tradition, claiming that back in the 1800s Southern plantation owners could buy slaves at a discount on the day after Thanksgiving. Though this version of Black Friday’s roots has understandably led some to call for a boycott of the retail holiday, it has no basis in fact.
Most journalists and historians trace back the use of the term to the late 1950s or early 60s, one used by Philadelphia cops in
reference to the chaos (“Philadelphia” and “chaos” go together like drunks and police horse punching) that would ensue the Friday after Thanksgiving, when shoppers, Santa enthusiasts, etc. would descend on the retail sections of the city. (A problem that Lord Bezos has helped curb.)
It does not, in any way, relate to slavery in the South.
Happy shopping, capitalist pigs.
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