Jie Zhang, a professor of marketing at the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business, points to a 1951 mention of “Black Friday” in a New-York based trade publication — which noted that many workers simply called in sick the day after Thanksgiving in hopes of having a long holiday weekend.

The supreme shopping weekend is almost here. A record 183.4 million people are planning to shop in stores and online between Thanksgiving Day through Cyber Monday in 2024, up from the previous record of 182 million in 2023,