Milwaukee Art Museum Returns Two Jars to David Drake's Descendants

The Milwaukee Art Museum has returned two 19th-century stoneware vessels by Dave (David) Drake to the descendants of the African American ceramicist. The ownership transfer agreement allows the objects to remain on display long-term.

The hefty jars exemplify ceramic mastery. But their significance runs deeper: Drake inscribed them with his name and brief poems at a time when Black literacy was criminalized in the antebellum South.

"For our family, this agreement is about more than the ownership of these two vessels," said Yaba Baker, Drake's fourth great-grandson, in a press statement on the return. "It is about recognizing David Drake as our ancestor whose voice, expertise, and creativity have endured for over 175 years."

Colloquially known as Dave the Potter, Drake was born into slavery around 1801 on a plantation in the Carolinas. Little is known about his early life. A handful of records show that as a late teen, Harvey Drake and Abner Landrum brought him to work in their pottery business in Edgefield, South Carolina — the epicenter of ceramic production in the American South during the 19th century.

Drake became a master potter known for throwing particularly large works. He also surreptitiously learned to read and write at great risk. South Carolina had instituted anti-literacy laws for enslaved and free African Americans through the Negro Act of 1740. The act also forbade African Americans from earning their own money or moving abroad, implementing harsh corporal or even deadly penalties.

Regardless, Drake exercised his agency by incising his name into his pottery. He displayed his expertise by authoring original rhyming couplets.

The return places Drake's inscribed vessels among the most resonant cases in the ongoing movement to transfer ownership of historically significant works to the descendants of their makers, while the long-term display provision keeps them visible to the public.