Walk into any Target or Walmart on the Friday after Thanksgiving and you'll see it. Pure chaos. People are literally wrestling over flat-screen TVs and air fryers. But lately, a different kind of noise has started bubbling up on social media and around dinner tables. You've probably seen the posts or heard the whispers: "Did you know Black Friday is racist?" or "It started with selling slaves." It’s a heavy claim. It’s also one that gets thrown around every single November like clockwork.
Honestly, the truth is a bit more tangled than a viral infographic.
When we talk about the idea that Black Friday is racist, we’re usually looking at two very different things. One is a historical myth that just won't die—this idea that the day was named because slave traders sold human beings at a discount after the holiday. The other is a much more modern, systemic reality about how retail marketing, policing, and economic disparities actually play out in real life. We need to look at both. If we don’t, we’re just shouting into the void without any actual facts.
The Viral Myth vs. The Actual History
Let's get the big one out of the way first. There is a persistent rumor that the term "Black Friday" originated in the 1800s because Southern plantation owners could buy enslaved workers at a discount on the day after Thanksgiving.
It's a viral claim. It's also completely false.
Historians have debunked this repeatedly. There is no record—none—of this being the origin of the name. In fact, the term didn't even show up in a retail context until much, much later. The phrase actually has a few different "birthdays." The first time it was used for the day after Thanksgiving was in the 1950s in Philadelphia.
The police department there hated the day. Basically, the city was flooded with suburban shoppers and tourists coming in for the Army-Navy football game held that Saturday. The cops had to work twelve-hour shifts. They couldn't take the day off. The streets were clogged with traffic and "Black Friday" was their way of describing the miserable, dark, congested mess of it all. It wasn't a celebration of capitalism. It was a complaint about a logistical nightmare.
Retailers actually hated the name at first. They tried to rebrand it as "Big Friday" to make it sound more positive, but that didn't stick. By the 1980s, the "accounting" explanation took over. This is the one most of us grew up with: the idea that shops operate at a loss ("in the red") all year and finally turn a profit ("into the black") the day after Thanksgiving. That’s the version that went mainstream.
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Why the Discussion Persists Today
So, if the slave trade story is a myth, why do people still feel like Black Friday is racist in a modern context?
Because history isn't just about etymology. It's about experience. Even if the name isn't rooted in the 19th-century slave trade, the way the holiday functions today raises some pretty uncomfortable questions about race and class.
Think about the "Black Friday brawl" videos. You know the ones. They almost always feature low-income shoppers, often people of color, fighting over consumer goods. Media critics, including folks like Dr. Tressie McMillan Cottom, have pointed out how these videos are used to mock the working class. There’s a specific kind of "poverty porn" that happens when news outlets loop footage of people jumping over counters for a $200 laptop. It reinforces stereotypes about "feral" behavior in a way that you never see when wealthy people are bidding at a high-end art auction or crashing a stock market.
Then there is the data on predatory marketing.
The Economic Reality of the Sale
According to a 2021 report from the Financial Health Network, Black and Latinx households are statistically more likely to be "financially vulnerable" compared to white households. When you have less disposable income, those 60% off deals aren't just a "nice to have"—they are often the only way to afford Christmas gifts or essential home appliances.
This creates a cycle where lower-income communities are more susceptible to the "lure" of Black Friday. Retailers know this. They flood specific zip codes with targeted ads.
- Consumer Debt: Studies from the Federal Reserve show that Black and Hispanic consumers often carry higher interest rates on credit cards due to systemic banking biases.
- The Trap: When people use high-interest credit to "save" money on Black Friday, they often end up paying more in the long run through interest than they saved on the initial discount.
Is the holiday intentionally racist? Probably not in a "boardroom conspiracy" kind of way. But it definitely preys on economic gaps that are deeply tied to race in America.
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Policing and the "Black" in Black Friday
There's another layer here. The policing of retail spaces.
In many majority-Black neighborhoods, Black Friday brings a massive increase in private security and police presence. This isn't just about "preventing shoplifting." It’s about the "Black Friday is racist" sentiment as a lived experience of being followed through a store while you're trying to buy a PlayStation.
The Consumer Reports 2022 survey on shopping experiences found that Black shoppers were twice as likely as white shoppers to report being unfairly monitored by store security. When you ramp up the intensity of a "limited time offer" and then pack the store with armed guards, you aren't creating a festive holiday environment. You're creating a pressure cooker.
The Shift to "Black-Owned" Friday
Interestingly, the conversation has started to flip. Instead of just critiquing the day, many activists and entrepreneurs are trying to reclaim it.
Google launched the "Black-owned Friday" campaign a few years ago. The idea was simple: if people are going to spend billions of dollars anyway, why not funnel that money into Black-owned businesses that are often locked out of traditional retail distribution?
This is a direct response to the feeling that Black Friday is racist in its current corporate form. By shifting the focus to "Buy Black," the community is trying to turn a day of frantic consumption into a day of economic empowerment. It’s about moving from being the targets of a sale to being the beneficiaries of the commerce.
It's a smart move. But it doesn't solve everything. Small businesses often can't compete with the "doorbuster" prices of a behemoth like Amazon or Walmart. So, the consumer is stuck in a weird spot. Do you support the local Black-owned shop and pay $50, or go to the big box store and pay $20 because that’s all you have in your budget?
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What Actually Matters Moving Forward
We have to be able to hold two things in our heads at once.
First, we should stop spreading the fake history. Using the "slave trade" origin story actually hurts the cause of social justice because it’s easily debunked. When people use false facts, it gives critics an excuse to ignore the very real, very current issues of economic inequality and retail bias.
Second, we have to look at the mechanics of the day. If a holiday encourages us to treat our neighbors like obstacles to a discount, and if that holiday disproportionately impacts the debt levels of marginalized communities, then yeah, it’s worth criticizing.
Black Friday isn't a singular event. It's a reflection of where we are as a society.
If you want to navigate this day without feeling like you're part of a broken system, you've got to be intentional. It's not just about whether Black Friday is racist in its name, but how you choose to engage with the economy behind it.
Actionable Ways to Change the Narrative
- Check your sources. If you see a meme about the "racist history" of Black Friday, verify it before hitting share. Stick to the real issues: predatory lending, retail profiling, and the wealth gap.
- Redirect your spend. Use directories like Official Black Wall Street or EatOkra to find businesses to support. If you're going to spend $100, try to put $20 of it toward a minority-owned business.
- Opt-out of the frenzy. Companies like REI started the "Opt Outside" movement, closing their doors on Friday. Sometimes the most radical thing you can do is just... not buy anything.
- Audit your "deals." Use price tracking tools like CamelCamelCamel to see if that "Black Friday Deal" is actually a discount. Often, prices are raised in October just to be "dropped" in November. Don't let marketing psychology dictate your bank account.
- Support policy change. Economic inequality isn't solved at the cash register. Support initiatives that address the racial wealth gap, like fair housing, equal pay, and student debt relief.
The debate over whether Black Friday is racist isn't going away. And maybe it shouldn't. As long as our economy remains deeply divided along racial lines, the biggest shopping day of the year will always be a lightning rod for those tensions. Just make sure when you're talking about it, you're talking about the things that are actually real.