Potter and poet David Drake of Edgefield, South Carolina, was held in bondage and forced to work under the American slavery system. He is known today because he signed many of his ceramics with his name—“Dave”—and, more uniquely, with evocative words and poems, some of which are reproduced on these labels. Working in an era when the names and biographies of enslaved people were rarely recorded, Drake ensured that he would be remembered by future generations.

As described in his poems, Drake's storage jars were designed to hold pork, beef, mutton, goat, bear, and lard. However, his writings transformed these functional ceramics into vessels that publicly declared—and carried—his artistry, authorship, and identity to other enslaved people who used his ceramics. Nearly two centuries later, Drake's ceramics not only provide moving testimony regarding his life and work, but also serve as powerful symbols of Black political resistance and cultural survival.

“The forth of July is surely come to blow the fife = and beat the drum 4 July 1859”
“Give me silver or either gold though they are dangerous to our soul 27 July 1840”

David Drake learned to read and write when these skills were illegal for enslaved people in South Carolina. White Southerners created such laws to prevent awareness of abolitionist arguments against slavery, the forging of documents that could assist an escape to freedom in the Northern states, and the organization of rebellions, like the 1831 uprising associated with Virginia's Nat Turner, who found moral support for his fight against the evils of the slavery system while reading the Bible.

It is not known how Drake became literate, although some enslavers encouraged Bible reading, believing its texts justified slavery. Yet, Drake produced no known ceramic poems or inscriptions from 1844 to 1848, suggesting that he was prevented from doing so during this period by his enslavers. Because Southern literacy bans served as tools of oppression, Drake's reading and writing not only challenged racist laws and stereotypes, but also represented a form of personal freedom.

“I wonder where is all my relation Friendship to all—and every nation 16 August 1857”
“I—made this jar all of cross If you don't repent, you will be lost 3 May 1862”

Through his poems, David Drake reflected on such subjects as religion, morality, slavery, patriotism, romance, and his pottery, often with a sly sense of humor or a subversive subtext. Possibly his most moving poem, which asks “I wonder where is all my relation,” suggests that he was cruelly separated from family members who were taken or sold elsewhere. He seems to balance this potentially dangerous criticism of slavery with the reassuring phrase “friendship to all.”

The word “catination” that Drake wrote on this jar is related to a similar word, “concatination,” which is found on his first known inscribed ceramic. Both words are variations of another word, “concatenation” (a series of connected things or events), that derives from the Latin word “catena” or “chain.” Did Drake's interest in these words derive from associations with family ties that were broken? Was he also possibly referring to chains—a symbol used by abolitionists to represent the slavery system?

“Great & Noble jar hold sheep goat and bear” 13 May 1859”
“I made this jar for cash though it is called lucre trash 22 August 1857”

David Drake worked in South Carolina's Edgefield pottery district, which prospered due to its natural clay deposits. Despite having lost one of his legs—most likely in a train accident—during his career he created thousands of storage jars, whisky jugs, milk pitchers, and butter churns, many of which were used on plantations. In his own lifetime, his stoneware ceramics were admired and purchased, both in South Carolina and Georgia, for their extraordinary quality and size.

Drake was sold multiple times by enslaver members of the Landrum, Drake, and Miles families, who profited from his skilled labor. His five decades of unpaid work are typical of the vast financial crimes of the slavery system, which powered the nation's economy for 246 years. Drake's pots and poems convincingly counter traditional fine art museum narratives that have omitted both the central role of slavery in US history and also the functional objects that represent many 19th-century Black art traditions.