Thursday, 24 October 1929, when heavy selling hit the New York Stock Exchange, was called Black Thursday.
The session marked the beginning of the most famous phase of the Wall Street Crash of 1929. Trading volume surged as investors rushed to sell shares, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell sharply. Major bankers attempted to calm the market by buying selected stocks, temporarily improving sentiment.
The relief did not last. Selling intensified again the following week, producing Black Monday on 28 October and Black Tuesday on 29 October. Black Tuesday is often treated as the crash’s most notorious day, but Black Thursday was the first major panic session in the sequence.
The crash did not by itself cause the entire Great Depression, which had multiple causes. It did, however, destroy substantial wealth, damage confidence, and expose the risks of buying stocks with borrowed money. The Dow continued falling after October 1929 and did not regain its 1929 peak until 1954.