Shop Our Black Owned Favorites
HBCU’s Canvas Print
HBCU’s Canvas Print
Solid 925 Sterling Silver with Gold-Toned Spelman College Small Dangle Earrings (10mm x 14mm)
Solid 925 Sterling Silver with Gold-Toned Spelman College Small Dangle Earrings (10mm x 14mm)
America’s Historically Black Colleges and Universities: A Narrative History, 1837-2009
America’s Historically Black Colleges and Universities: A Narrative History, 1837-2009
Southwestern Athletic Conference College Pennant Set
Southwestern Athletic Conference College Pennant Set
Homecoming
Homecoming
A Tale of Two Cities Throw Pillow
A Tale of Two Cities Throw Pillow
TAILGATE WOMEN’S SPELMAN COLLEGE CROPPED SWEATSHIRT
TAILGATE WOMEN’S SPELMAN COLLEGE CROPPED SWEATSHIRT
WHITLEY GILBERT POSTER, A DIFFERENT WORLD TV CLASSIC HIP HOP POSTER, A3 COLLEGEDORM DECOR, OFFICE HOME WALL ART
WHITLEY GILBERT POSTER, A DIFFERENT WORLD TV CLASSIC HIP HOP POSTER, A3 COLLEGEDORM DECOR, OFFICE HOME WALL ART
Movie Posters 27 x 40 School Daze
Movie Posters 27 x 40 School Daze
HBCU (Historically Black Colleges and Universities) Football Conferences Poster – 16×24
HBCU (Historically Black Colleges and Universities) Football Conferences Poster – 16×24
Add These Black Owned Heirlooms to Your Home
LEROY CAMPBELL CAREFREE HAND SIGNED AFRICAN AMERICAN ART
Gullah Spirit: The Art of Jonathan Green
35″” x 35″” Juneteenth by Synthia Saint James Canvas Art Print – Masterpiece Art Gallery
‘Beyonce’ Graphic Art Print on Wrapped Canvas Size: 18″ H x 26″ W x 1.5″ D
HBCU’s Canvas Print
A Different World (TV) 11 x 17 TV Poster – Style A
(27×40) Eve’s Bayou Movie Samuel L Jackson Lynn Whitfield Original Poster Print
Yes. Jesus Loves Me (Religious) – Katherine Roundtree 16×20 Black Framed
Dancing in The Living Room (Girls) – Katherine Roundtree 24×32 Black Framed – African American Black Art Print Wall Decor Poster
The Goodbye Kiss (Buffalo Soldier) – Katherine Roundtree 24×32 Black Framed – African American Black Art Print Wall Decor Poster
Amanti Art Funeral Procession Framed Art Print
Goddesses by Synthia SAINT JAMES Canvas Wall Art 3 Piece
227 – TV SHOW 80’S CLASSIC SHOW PRINT, GIFT FOR BEST FRIEND, FOR MOM, HOME DECOR, BLACK ART POP ART, FEMINIST
MASTER PIECE LESSONS GULLAH ISLANDS WALL ART, 35X35
GULLAH IMAGES: THE ART OF JONATHAN GREEN
GULLAH GEECHEE HERITAGE IN THE GOLDEN ISLES (PAPERBACK)
MASTER PIECE JOOK JOINT GULLAH ISLANDS WALL ART, 35X35
MY KIND OF NET ART PRINT BY GULLAH LIVING SERIES BY SAMANTHA CLAAR – X-LARGE
35″ X 35″ GULLAH GEECHEE CONJURE WOMAN BY SYNTHIA SAINT JAMES CANVAS ART PRINT – MASTERPIECE ART GALLERY
RING SHOUT GULLAH ISLANDS – UNFRAMED PRINT ON CANVAS WORLD MENAGERIE
MASTER PIECE GATHERING GULLAH ISLANDS WALL ART, 30X40

Check out more of our favorites in our curated shop!

Some of the links in this post are affiliate links. This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission at no extra cost to you. All opinions remain my own.

Chair Caning is a Dying Art Form Alive in Black History

<strong>Chair Caning is a Dying Art Form Alive in Black History</strong>

Throughout the American South and in the Northeast, chair caning was both a practical craft and art form that can be traced to ancient Africa and Egypt though found in other global antiquities. People who wanted to preserve their furniture or the cane seating (and backs) of their everyday chairs often paid local artisans to replace the woven areas made of wicker. Black chair caners could be found in almost every major city and in rural communities. Blind children and adults often worked as chair caners as a means of practicing a trade on plantations, post-Emancipation and during the earliest part of the 20th century. Where there was furniture for the wealthy and poor, there were chair (seat) caners close by. 

An elderly man demonstrates chair caning to a group of Jeanes Supervisors in a church in Clayton, Barbour County, in this 1915 photo.Photo courtesy of the Alabama Department of Archives and History, Anna T. Jeanes Collection

With furniture-making being a signature industry in North Carolina, it makes perfectly good sense to have chair caners available to create and repair furniture. Black 4-H Clubs and other rural (and sometimes urban) initiatives taught young Black people to cane furniture as a form of light industrial training and as a way to support themselves financially. In most cases, chair caning and other craft arts supported the economic sustainability of rural Black communities. 

Unknown, “African-American boy weaves seat caning onto a chair, Guilford County, North Carolina, September 1937,” The State of History, accessed January 28, 2023, https://soh.omeka.chass.ncsu.edu/items/show/30123.

Participants in the Asheville Summer School for Negro Teachers exhibiting caned chair seats as a part of “light industrial” training. [Digital NC, Heritage of Black Highlanders Exhibit, UNC Asheville] 

Akin to basket-weaving, chair caning methods varied and were determined by the ornateness of a chair and a person’s desired style. The Silver River Center for Chair Caning in Asheville has a museum with a wall of chairs that demonstrate and explain the various techniques of caning. 

Silver River Center’s owners: Dave Klingler and Brandy Clements in front of the Wall of Chairs

Though Silver River is the only known museum devoted to chair caning’s history and artisans, there are other museums around the country that feature caned chairs. Museums featuring Shaker furniture will have caned chairs in their collections. 

North Carolina’s Thomas Day was a wealthy Black master craftsman and cabinet maker who used chair caning in some of his work, which can be found in museums in the state as well as around the country. The Smithsonian hosted an exhibit on loan to them from the North Carolina Museum of History. Of the work that has been authenticated as Day’s, the photo below is an example of how he employed chair caning. 

Thomas Day, Set of Five Side Chairs

Advertisements

In a day and age, where most furniture is constructed and purchased for disposability, the workmanship of chair caning is something to behold. Maybe desired. 

Robin Caldwell

Robin Caldwell is the blogger behind freshandfriedhard.com and a public historian and researcher focusing on Black culinary traditions and foodways.

More Posts

38

Comments

comments

Follow:
Robin Caldwell

Robin Caldwell is the blogger behind freshandfriedhard.com and a public historian and researcher focusing on Black culinary traditions and foodways.

Find me on: Instagram

Share:

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Instagram
3   70
6   165
12   222
16   102
11   153

Follow on Instagram

Shop Our Favorites!
LEROY CAMPBELL CAREFREE HAND SIGNED AFRICAN AMERICAN ART
Gullah Spirit: The Art of Jonathan Green
35″” x 35″” Juneteenth by Synthia Saint James Canvas Art Print – Masterpiece Art Gallery
‘Beyonce’ Graphic Art Print on Wrapped Canvas Size: 18″ H x 26″ W x 1.5″ D
HBCU’s Canvas Print
A Different World (TV) 11 x 17 TV Poster – Style A
(27×40) Eve’s Bayou Movie Samuel L Jackson Lynn Whitfield Original Poster Print
Yes. Jesus Loves Me (Religious) – Katherine Roundtree 16×20 Black Framed
Dancing in The Living Room (Girls) – Katherine Roundtree 24×32 Black Framed – African American Black Art Print Wall Decor Poster
The Goodbye Kiss (Buffalo Soldier) – Katherine Roundtree 24×32 Black Framed – African American Black Art Print Wall Decor Poster
Amanti Art Funeral Procession Framed Art Print
Goddesses by Synthia SAINT JAMES Canvas Wall Art 3 Piece
227 – TV SHOW 80’S CLASSIC SHOW PRINT, GIFT FOR BEST FRIEND, FOR MOM, HOME DECOR, BLACK ART POP ART, FEMINIST
MASTER PIECE LESSONS GULLAH ISLANDS WALL ART, 35X35
GULLAH IMAGES: THE ART OF JONATHAN GREEN
GULLAH GEECHEE HERITAGE IN THE GOLDEN ISLES (PAPERBACK)
MASTER PIECE JOOK JOINT GULLAH ISLANDS WALL ART, 35X35
MY KIND OF NET ART PRINT BY GULLAH LIVING SERIES BY SAMANTHA CLAAR – X-LARGE
35″ X 35″ GULLAH GEECHEE CONJURE WOMAN BY SYNTHIA SAINT JAMES CANVAS ART PRINT – MASTERPIECE ART GALLERY
RING SHOUT GULLAH ISLANDS – UNFRAMED PRINT ON CANVAS WORLD MENAGERIE
MASTER PIECE GATHERING GULLAH ISLANDS WALL ART, 30X40
Shop Now

Click to Shop!

Some of the links in this post are affiliate links. This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission at no extra cost to you. All opinions remain my own.

Shares
• powered by chloédigital