David Drake

David Drake (c. 1800 – c. 1870s), also known as "Dave Pottery" and "Dave the Potter", was an American potter who lived in Edgefield, South Carolina. Drake was enslaved for most of his life, but became free at the end of the American Civil War. He is thought to have died during the 1870s.

Drake produced alkaline-glazed stoneware jugs between the 1820s and the 1870s. He often signed his works "Dave", and he is recognized as the first enslaved potter known to inscribe his work. as well as with his signature. Most enslaved people were illiterate, often as a result of anti-literacy laws, making his inscriptions particularly notable.

Life David Drake is thought to have been born the first half of the year 1800 on a plantation in South Carolina, enslaved by the Drake family. The term "country born" refers to an enslaved African American born in the United States rather than in Africa.

David Drake was first enslaved by Harvey Drake, who owned a large pottery business with his business partner Abner Landrum. David is believed to have been born to one of eight slaves whom Landrum had brought to Edgefield from North Carolina. This pottery business, and the area within which David Drake worked, is known as Pottersville. Landrum was the publisher of a local newspaper called The Edgefield Hive. South Carolina's Negro Act of 1740, prohibited teaching enslaved Africans to read and write, punishable by a fine of 100 pounds and six months in prison. Another unclear detail about Drake's life is his missing leg. At an unknown point in his life, one of Drake's legs was amputated; it is speculated that he lost his leg after his owner severely beat him for inscribing his works. However, there is also evidence that his leg may have been amputated as a result of a train accident.

After the death of Harvey Drake in 1832, David was purchased by Harvey's brother Reuben, continuing to work at Pottersville until Reuben left Edgefield for Louisiana in 1835. Researchers believe that Dave remained in Edgefield because either he was too important a potter to leave Pottersville or that he was unable to make the journey due to his missing leg. He was eventually enslaved by Rev. John Landrum. In 1846, Rev. Landrum died and all 18 of the people he enslaved were put up for sale. Drake was then purchased and enslaved by Landrum's son, Franklin Landrum. Drake's treatment under Franklin Landrum was poor. The poetry on this vessel reads: Twenty of Drake's jars and jugs are inscribed with original poetry and 50 additional vessels reveal his signature, maker's mark, date, and other inscriptions. One marker of Drake's work is that his jars are widest at the top.

One of Drake's better known pieces, a 19-inch greenware pot that dates back to August 16, 1857, includes the following description:

Drake commonly used jugs, which he frequently adorned with short poems and couplets below the rim of the jar. It is believed that the inscriptions Drake included on his works were used as a method of personal expression, communication with other slaves, and even defiance to the institution of slavery. Pieces by Drake frequently feature the initials "LM." This stood for Lewis Miles, the man who owned the pottery workshop where Drake worked (Miles may have enslaved Dave for a time, starting in the late 1830s). In 2012, one of Drake's pieces, a butter churn with the inscription, "This is a noble churn / fill it up it will never turn," sold for $130,000 at a Charlton Hall Auction in South Carolina. In 2020, an attributed inscription jar sold for $369,000 (~$ in ) at a Brunk's Auction in Asheville, North Carolina.

Collections

The 1998 exhibition The Life and Works of the Enslaved African American Potter, Dave at University of South Carolina's McKissick Museum was the first exhibition devoted solely to Drake's pottery. and the National Gallery of Art in Washington, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, the Art Institute of Chicago, the De Young Museum in San Francisco, the Saint Louis Art Museum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Morris Museum of Art (Augusta, GA), the International African American Museum in Charleston, South Carolina, and the North Carolina Museum of Art in Raleigh. His work was displayed by the Metropolitan Museum of Art from 2022 to 2023 as part of the Hear Me Now: The Black Potters of Old Edgefield, South Carolina exhibition.

In 2025, the Boston Museum of Fine Arts returned two pots within their collection that were crafted by Drake to his descendants. This act was the first time that art from an enslaved African American had been repatriated by a major American art museum.