Student Author: Jacob E.
Black Friday is an interesting North American Holiday. It originated in the late 19th century; around 1869 is the first record of this holiday. Whenever Black Friday first came around, it wasn’t even an actual holiday. People would just take the day after Thanksgiving off, because they wanted a four-day holiday -- I mean can you blame them? Stores, naturally, were open, being it is no longer a holiday, so people decided to get their Christmas shopping done early. Store owners saw a great opportunity to drive customers in with deals and sales. The first publicized Black Friday was in 1966; it was to depict all the traffic jams and crowding in downtown stores.
Now-a-days, Black Friday is a staple tradition for many American families. Sales have gone from starting at Midnight on Thanksgiving, to recently, stores starting sales the day of Thanksgiving. There are many split opinions on whether this sort of drive from competitors having their sales on Thanksgiving is appropriate or not. Some may argue it desensitizes the legitimacy of this long-time American holiday. Others may argue that it is not a huge deal, and even gives families a way to spend their time on Thanksgiving, after all the food of course.
