A Short History of Black Craft in Ten Objects

By the time he obtained his freedom sometime between 1850 and 1860, and settled in Williamson County, Tennessee, Richard Poynor was already a well-established craftsman.

Born a slave in Halifax County, Virginia, he earned a living making chairs noted for their gracefully curved mule-ear posts and triple-slat backs, a pioneering style that was sought after by wealthy enslavers and common folk alike. His signature ladderback chairs became so popular that other local chairmakers began to adopt its style.

At a time when most African Americans were still enslaved on farms and plantations in the Antebellum South, Poynor was a prolific furniture maker who was admired by white society for his skills as a craftsman.

Poynor’s talent for craft and his improbable rise to prominence is one of ten beautifully illustrated essays in A Short History of Black Craft in Ten Objects, a new book that chart’s the legacy of Black artisans in the U.S. (Chronicle Books)

Atlanta-based chairmaker and scholar Robell Awake details how Black artisans have long been central to American art and design, creating innovative and highly desired work against immense odds. Yet Awake also explores the often remarkable stories behind ten cornerstones of Black craft.

From the enslaved potters of Old Edgefield, South Carolina, to Ann Lowe, the couture dressmaker who made Jacqueline Kennedy's wedding dress, to Gullah Geechee sweetgrass basket makers, to the quilters of Gee's Bend.

“Black people in America have long been keeping history, telling stories, and pioneering revolutionary artistic traditions through craft,” says Awake, who was born in Boston but grew up in the South to parents who moved to the U.S. from Ethiopia. “Black craft traditions have been pushing the boundaries of art and craft for generations while simultaneously resisting oppression and erasure,” he adds.

Awake’s own work centers on Black aesthetic traditions and histories, drawing inspiration from Poynor and other Black artisans.

Among them, Lewis Buckner, who was born a slave in Tennessee in 1856, but used impeccable craftsmanship and unique style to eventually become a successful furniture maker and home builder. And Thomas Day, the most well-known Black furniture maker in American history, who was also the most successful furniture maker in all of North Carolina by 1855, the book reveals. Day’s estimated net worth of $40,000 would be the equivalent of approximately $1.5 million today, Awake’s research shows.

“To have achieved this level of success as a free Black man in the antebellum South was nothing short of extraordinary,” Awake writes in the book. “Particularly in the decades preceding the Civil War, when white supremacist lawmakers and vigilantes viciously targeted and tried to expel free Black people from their communities,” the book notes.

While much of Awake’s work is inspired by African American master woodworkers and Black artisans - reviving traditional fabrication methods - he manages to employ the kind of finely carved furniture and architectural elements that underscores his own distinct design language.

Awake’s chairs have been acquired by the Art Institute of Chicago and he has a forthcoming commission for the Baltimore Museum of Art. He’s also a recipient of the Center for Craft’s Craft Research Fund Artist Fellowship.

A solo show of his work will be on view in April at the Volume Gallery in Chicago.