Everybody knows that with Thanksgiving break comes Black Friday shopping. Since the COVID-19 outbreak and social distancing, Black Friday the past couple of years has not been the same in the sense where people would be standing in line for hours, waiting to get the best deals on items. Now that things are back to normal in a way, Black Friday is expected to have all the hype it once had. 

Some may say that Black Friday fell off years ago and that the deals are no better than the original retail prices. For others, people live for this day and are destined to blow their money away on sales they find gratifying. Black Friday is a day full of shopping deals and generally marks the start of Christmas shopping for many people, as deals are far better than closer to the holidays. Black Friday is the Friday after Thanksgiving, usually the fourth Friday of the month. Some stores open as early as midnight so people can purchase electronics, toys, and more discounted items before things sell out. Many people use this day to finally purchase the things they’ve wanted at a better price than their original retail price. With all the talk about Black Friday, many can only wonder where Black Friday originated from. 

Throughout history, the term black has correlated with economic stress in times of financial panic. Older people may associate Black Friday with the stock market crash in 1929, but financial distress leads further back in time from the collapse of the U.S. gold market in 1869. Even though Black Friday seems to be a day filled with excitement, its roots have a darker meaning. Although many stores mark a lot of their items at discounted prices and people look forward to purchases, there are tragic stories of Black Friday gone wrong.  

The cause of many fatal Black Friday incidents is due to trampling, shootings, and car accidents. According to the New York Daily News, in 2013, a Walmart Employee was trampled to death by a mob of shoppers. Shoppers are not the only lives at risk when storming the stores. Employees of stores, too, are in harm’s way. 

With this in mind, it’s essential to be aware of your surroundings when out shopping for the holidays. Your lives are more important than fifty percent off of a Nintendo Switch.