Furniture Restorer Finds 200-Year-Old Chair from North Georgia Filled With 'Human Hair' from Black Slaves

By Edward Era Barbacena

A furniture restorer has shared harrowing footage of a 200-year-old chair, which he says is filled with human hair from slaves. 

He shared a heart-breaking clip to social media, as he claimed a "very wealthy family" from North Georgia requested the chair be restored.

The tradesman said: "I want everybody to see this, this is not propaganda at all. This chair right here is 200 years old. This 200-year-old chair came from somewhere in north Georgia. We are restoring this chair. What we doing, we gotta take this chair and make it look brand new."

He films the chair, which is covered in a thin white covering, which he claimed was cotton. But he goes on to explain the chair is harboring a terrible secret, as he delves into the padding.

"But I want y'all to see, now I actually asked and I got into the details of it, I didn't just assume. I want y'all to see this. Usually old ancient chairs like this, you fill them with whatever you can get your hands on, is what you fill them with. 

"This one apparently, has cotton. This is handpicked cotton, been sat on for over 200 years. And it's just, horrible. But it's made with solid wood so it's going to last. I want y'all to see this," he continued, as he lifted the threadbare cotton.

He explained: "This is human hair. This is literally, human hair. Imagine how many slaves it took to put human hair in this seat. It's the full seat, the full interior of the seat is human hair. It's human, not horse, not cow, like they usually do, pig hair, horse hair, no. This is actual human hair, slave hair. Imagine how many slaves it took to fill this chair with human hair."

He pulls out tufts of dark, curly hair from the seat, with the camera revealing the back and cushion area covered in strands.

The cameraman continued: "Now a lot of them are filled with horse and whatever you can get your hands on. But this came from a very very wealthy, wealthy people in north Georgia. They're keeping this chair because of the historic and the sentimental value that it has for their family.

"Imagine how much humans, how many people it took, to put this much hair, inside of this chair. How much hair. I want y'all to think about that when you stand up for your flag and all that and you're a true American today. How many humans did it take to cut and put in this chair. That's a lot, think about that."

The harrowing video was originally posted to YouTube in 2016, under the name Lion Fatal, and can be seen here. The clip has been watched more than 50,000 times, and captioned: "200 year old chair I'm restoring at my job. Padded with slave hair and cotton. (Normally you find horse or goat, not this time."

But it has recently resurfaced, being shared by TikToker Karahbura Nebjari on Monday, where it has amassed more than 400,000 views. People have reacted in shock and horror at the filling, claiming it belongs in a museum.

Commenting on the TikTok video, Reckless Bliss wrote: "They should keep the chair just like this and put it in a museum so it shows the true travesty of slavery and all the horrors it holds."

In a bid to trace the slave's ancestors, $callywag wrote: "Send it off for DNA testing."

Rose Jones suggested: "Take the hair out and bury it."

Bforbeatrice said: "It's hard to comprehend touching something like this. The emotion behind it, the politics behind it, the abuse behind it..."

"I feel sick. Knowledge like this is so hard, but so important," Leahverre commented.

Christa Washington noted: "And that's just one chair."

Michelle Dickert thought: "Thank you for showing this. I can't imagine how difficult it was for you to see and touch it let alone talk to us about it. I'm sick with grief."

While Therealmelaninhim added: "It shouldn't be restored. It should be left in that state and people made it see it exactly like it is... inhumane!"