Master of Mahogany: Tom Day, Free Black Cabinetmaker (African-American Artists and Artisans)
Grade 3-5-A concise biography that places the master craftsman center stage and spotlights the tenor of 19th-century Virginia and North Carolina. Tracing Tom Day's evolution from apprentice, journeyman, to an independent cabinetmaker and one of the largest furniture producers in North Carolina, the author outlines the complexities of his life. He was a free black man and a slaveholder, a wealthy man whose children could not legally attend school, and was witness to increasing racial tension and the imposition of oppressive discriminatory laws. Clear, finely detailed photographs delineate a visual legacy of his superb sculptured carvings. Exhibiting a fine use of language, Lyons writes of the woods in which "whiskery old pines whistled hello" and people were "hysterical with hate." She states at the outset that many details about Tom Day are unknown and must be surmised. A factually stimulating blend of biography and history emerges as a portrait not only of a man, but also of an era. Readers are subtly assailed by a barrage of facts in the guise of rich language; annotated, documented photographs; and an artist's vision. An arresting cover illustration graphically conveys the fine attention to detail apparent on every page.Joanne Kelleher, Commack Public Library, NYCopyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.