Black Friday 2024 has descended upon us as legions of eager shoppers traverse virtual aisles and bustling storefronts in pursuit of tantalizing discounts. Yet, few are privy to the term’s enigmatic and, at times, sinister history, which weaves through the annals of economic turmoil and societal upheaval.
“The phrase ‘Black Friday’ originally harks back to September 24, 1869,” elucidated financial advisor Bryan Kuderna during his discussion with Fox News Digital. “On that infamous day, a cataclysmic collapse gripped the stock market, obliterating over 20 percent of its value within hours.”
This seismic financial upheaval, Kuderna notes, stemmed from a grandiose and nefarious endeavor orchestrated by two of the Gilded Age’s most unscrupulous financiers, Jay Gould and Jim Fisk. Together, they contrived an audacious scheme to monopolize the gold market, a maneuver that would catalyze widespread economic devastation and plunge countless individuals into bankruptcy.
“These men epitomized the archetypal ‘robber barons’ of their era,” Kuderna remarks. “At the time, the nation’s gold reserves totaled a mere USD 20 million, and Gould and Fisk astutely recognized the potential for immense profit should they commandeer this finite supply.”
Seizing upon their immense wealth and dubious reputations, the duo embarked on their exploitative quest, devising a meticulous plan to hoard gold. However, their gambit required a strategic collaborator within the corridors of governmental power.

President Ulysses S. Grant, intent on injecting additional gold into the economy and curbing the proliferation of paper currency, inadvertently jeopardized their stratagem. In response, the pair enlisted the president’s brother-in-law, Abel Rathbone Corbin, bribing him to wield influence over Grant’s monetary policies.
“Corbin became their emissary,” Kuderna explained. “They incentivized him to persuade President Grant to halt any initiatives to release gold into the market.” For a fleeting period, the manipulation succeeded, constricting gold availability and propelling its value skyward.
Suspicions eventually gnawed at Grant, prompting decisive action. He authorized the sale of substantial government-held gold, triggering an abrupt and catastrophic collapse in gold prices on September 24, 1869. This event, now etched in history as Black Friday, reverberated through the financial system, devastating the stock market and consigning many to economic ruin.
The moniker ‘Black Friday’ resurfaced in mid-20th century Philadelphia, albeit in a markedly different context. “During the 1950s,” Kuderna recounted, “Philadelphia grappled with an overwhelming influx of visitors following Thanksgiving, drawn by the Army-Navy football game and holiday shopping fervor. The city’s police force, stretched thin, contended with rampant shoplifting and chaotic crowds, giving rise to the term’s resurgence.”
Retailers, seeking to temper the term’s bleak overtones, rebranded the phenomenon as “Big Friday,” hoping to reframe it as a celebration of commerce and festivity. “This alternative, though short-lived, encapsulated a more optimistic vision,” Kuderna observes.
The modern understanding of Black Friday emerged in the 1980s, aligning the term with fiscal prosperity rather than historical adversity. “Retail accountants began to observe that this pivotal Friday transitioned businesses from financial deficits, or ‘the red,’ to profitability, or ‘the black,'” Kuderna stated. This interpretation endures, symbolizing the advent of the holiday shopping season.
Yet, amidst the jubilant consumerism, Kuderna underscores the necessity of grappling with Black Friday’s origins. “Understanding its darker chapters is essential,” he asserted. “By reflecting on history, we cultivate wisdom to avert similar follies in the future.”
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