The N.C. Museum of History is showing off its collection of furniture by Thomas Day, a free black man who owned and operated one of the state's largest cabinet shops before the Civil War.
"Behind the Veneer" is the name of the exhibit that opened Saturday at the museum in Raleigh. About 70 pieces of furniture crafted by Day are on display.
The pieces are from the museum's collection, private lenders and the Thomas Day House in Milton in Caswell County, where Day built furniture from 1835 to 1860.
Free black people were allowed to own property in antebellum North Carolina, and Day used that right to build a thriving business. His work gained the respect of white clients in North Carolina and Virginia.
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