The Story of David Drake

DAVE THE POTTER

A SLAVE WHO COULD WRITE & MAKE POTTERY

• In 1801, the U.S. Constitution still protected slavery and less than 10% of blacks were free (and most of those in the north)

• Records say he was “country born,” which means he was born in the United States (and not Africa)

• First owner was Harvey Drake in Edgefield, South Carolina

• Drake and his business partner owned a pottery factory a mile outside of town call Pottersville

• Dave began working at the pottery while a teenager• The pottery made stoneware jugs, pitchers, churns and

storage jars

1801: DAVE BORN INTO SLAVERY

WHERE HE WORKED

WHAT HE DID

• Today, we think of pottery as an artisinal activity• In the 1800s, this was how every vessel was made• The Pottersville factory had kilns that measured about

100 feet long and required 10 tons of firewood a day• Dave was a forced laborer working in a factory• Ceramicists were highly skilled laborers and considered

very valuable by slaveholders

FACTORY WORK

WHAT WAS DIFFERENT ABOUT DAVE

put every bit all between

surely this Jar will hold 14

12 July 1834

1834: THE FIRST KNOWN POT

• In 1740, South Carolina banned teaching slaves how to read and write

• "Be it therefore Enacted by the Authority aforesaid, That all and every Person and Persons whatsoever, who shall hereafter teach or cause any Slave to be taught to write, or shall use or employ any slave as a Scribe in any Manner of Writing whatsoever, hereafter taught to write, every such offense forfeit the Sum of One Hundred Pounds current Money."

Left: Philadelphia [ca.1810]: The Uncle’s Present by Jacob Johnson, an

early children's alphabet book

WHERE DID HE LEARN TO READ AND WRITE?

oh the moon + the stars 

hard work to make big Jars

22 August 1834

ONE MONTH LATER

• Dave’s pots could hold as many as 40 gallons, which meant being able to hold and mold 50 pounds of clay

• He could have made as many as 40,000 pieces

• Started signing his name on pieces in January 1840

TECHNICAL VIRTUOSITY

Relationship to master:

Lm says this handlewill crack 

June 28, 1854

[Lm = Lewis Miles]

THEMES

Feb. 10, 1840:

whats better than Kissing —while we both are at fishing

Aug: 26, 1840:

another trick is worst than this +Dearest miss: spare me a Kiss +

How much can we interpret about Dave’s life from these verses?

INTERPRETING THE VERSES

• Dave had at least five owners and after Emancipation took his first owner’s last name

• When owner Rev. John Landrum died, his 18 slaves were divided by six different buyers. Dave went to Franklin Landrum

• Another slave at the pottery committed suicide after being whipped by Landrum

• There are no known writings by Dave during the period when he was owned by Landrum

• After being sold to Lewis Miles, Dave began writing again: three poems from 1857 have survived, eight from 1858, and seven from 1859

• In 1857, he wrote: I wonder where is all my relation / friendship to all — and, every nation

FAMILY LIFE

Good for lard or holding fresh meat,

blest we were when peter saw the folded sheet.

Signed with LM (for Lewis Miles) and “May 3d 1859/Dave.”

Storage Jar made by David Drake (Dave the Potter), American, 1800 - c. 1870.  Made in Edgefield, South Carolina in 1859.  Alkaline-glazed stoneware, 26 1/2 x 15 1/2 (67.3 x 39.4 cm.). Philadelphia Museum of Art

1859

I made this jar all of cross /

If you dont repent, you will be lost

May 3 1862 LM Dave

1862: HIS LAST KNOWN POEM

• After the Civil War, Dave takes the name David Drake• Thought to live in a kinship community with former

slaves in South Carolina• Endured Ku Klux Klan attacks, including one night when

an old woman was severely beaten• David Drake does not appear in the 1880 census; he is

thought to have passed away in the 1870s.

A FREE MAN

This is a noble churn/

fill it up it will never turn

Dave 1858

• Damaged pot offered by Charlton Hall Auctions in South Carolina

• Sold in 2012 for $130,000

RECOVERING DAVE THE POTTER

http://www.youtube.com/embed/2QWXC36fHNc?feature=player_detailpage

THEASTER GATES CONTINUES THE CONVERSATION