During the mid-1800s, Thomas Day was the most successful cabinet maker working in North Carolina. A significant figure in the history of woodworking, equally as important for his role in American history as an astoundingly successful free man of color in the Antebellum South, Day developed a truly original aesthetic and showed unmatched skill as a maker of cabinets, furniture, and other highly detailed works, the popularity of which elevated his status in white society on a scale unseen among other free blacks. His signature style, full of flowing lines, spirals, and original motifs, shaped...