The article The Dark History of New Years Day in the US in Time on January 1st 2020， mentions that Americans are likely to think of New Years Day as a time to celebrate the fresh start that a new year represents， but there is also a troubling side to the holidays history. In the years before the Civil War， the first day of the new year was often a heartbreaking one for enslaved people in the United States. In the African-American community， New Years Day used to be widely known as “Hiring Day” — or“Heartbreak Day”， because enslaved people spent New Years Eve waiting， wondering if their owners were going to rent them out to someone else， thus potentially splitting up their families. The renting out of slave labor was a relatively common practice in the antebellum South， and a profitable practice for white slave owners and hirers.

最新一期的美國《时代周刊》一篇题为《美国元旦黑暗史》的文章提到，美国人把元旦看作是庆祝新年伊始的时刻，但该节日历史也有令人不安的一面。在南北战争之前，元旦对于美国黑奴来说往往是令人心碎的一天。在非洲裔美国人群体中，元旦曾经被广泛称为“雇佣日”——也就是“心碎日”，因为被奴役的人们在除夕夜等待，想知道他们的主人是否会把他们租给别人，从而导致家庭撕裂。出租奴隶在南北战争前比较常见，这也是白人奴隶主和雇主的一种有利可图的做法。