ELI5 Thanksgiving - why is it called Black Friday?

Why is it called Black Friday? Why is thanksgiving always on a Thursday? Did Macys invent the thanksgiving parade? Why is American Football a thanksgiving tradition? Why is the weekend after thanksgiving the busiest day in the year for plumbers?

... we explain like I'm five

This episode was originally recorded in November 2021. Thank you to the r/explainlikeimfive community and in particular the following users whose questions and comments formed the basis of this discussion: optoomistic, jcd1974, buddythebear, and cjk_exstream

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