by Andrea Cheng
Edgefield pottery was produced from the early 1800s to the early 1900s. It is believed that Dave created thousands of pieces during his lifetime, but only about one hundred seventy of his vessels survive today in museum and private collections. Dave’s pots, jugs, and jars were notable for their excellent craftsmanship. Many were also exceptionally large and strong, and some bore intriguing inscriptions, including about thirty poems. Because much of Edgefield pottery was made before the Civil War by enslaved workers in plantation-based pottery works, it has historical and social significance in addition to cultural and artistic importance.
Courtesy of Arthur F. Goldberg, photograph by Gavin Ashworth,
published by the Chipstone Foundation in Ceramics in America 2006
inscription:
when you fill this Jar with pork or beef
Scot will be there; to Get a peace, —
April 21, 1858
jar height: 25-5⁄8”
Dave’s Inscriptions
Some of Dave’s words and poems are included throughout this book to help give readers a sense of his language and an understanding of his thoughts and experiences. The transcriptions of the writings come from Carolina Clay: The Life and Legend of the Slave Potter Dave by Leonard Todd, and they follow Dave’s spelling, capitalization, and punctuation as closely as possible. Here are Dave’s inscriptions that appear in this book.
Concatination
June 12, 1834
put every bit all between
surely this Jar will hold 14
July 12, 1834
horses mules and hogs —
all our cows is in the bogs —
there they shall ever stay
till the buzzards take them away =
March 29, 1836
Dave belongs to Mr Miles /
wher the oven bakes & the pot biles ///
July 13, 1840
L. Miles Dave
October 13, 1843
just a mammouth Jar [illegible]
for I not [illegible]
October 17, 1850
Lm says this handle
will crack
June 28, 1854
I wonder where is all my relation
friendship to all — and, every nation
August 16, 1857
This noble jar = will hold, 20
fill it with silver = then you’ll have plenty
April 8, 1858
Great & Noble Jar
hold Sheep goat or bear
May 13, 1859
I, made this Jar, all of cross
If, you dont repent, you will be, lost =
May 3, 1862
Author’s Note
I first heard about Dave while listening to a review of Leonard Todd’s book Carolina Clay: The Life and Legend of the Slave Potter Dave. After reading the book, I was deeply moved by the story of Dave’s life. I had learned about the heroism of people throughout history who had risked their lives for freedom. I was especially interested in Harriet Tubman and Nat Turner. But I had never heard of a person such as Dave. How did he dare to write on the walls of his jars at a time when he could have been hung just for reading a book?
Dave’s story touched me for many reasons. I grew up in the 1960s, a white girl in a predominantly African American neighborhood in Cincinnati, a city that was full of racial conflict. I remember sitting in the front yard with my friends, most of whom were African American, and hearing the sounds of the 1968 race riots just a few blocks away. Perhaps because of these early experiences I am deeply interested in struggles for civil rights around the world. My children, who are biracial Chinese and Caucasian, have grown up in this same neighborhood and have also been significantly affected by issues of race and class.
I have a connection to Dave’s love of clay as well. As a child, my friends and I spent hot summer days in the basement of the neighborhood community center. The center had a big vat of red clay, and from that clay we formed sculptures and pots. I learned to slice and wedge the clay so it would hold up when fired in the kiln, or furnace. I practiced centering a mound of clay on a potter’s wheel. I came to love the feeling of clay in my hands. This interest was passed on to one of my children, Ann, who is now an avid potter.
Like Dave, I also write poetry. I started writing poems when I was about eight, and I have been writing poetry—and prose—ever since. I was encouraged by teachers, family members, and friends. I cannot imagine writing at all in the circumstances under which Dave lived and worked.
I have told Dave’s story in a way that I hope he would have liked: in poems and woodcuts that attempt to communicate his bravery, his dignity, and his artistry. In some small way, I hope to pay tribute to the quiet heroism of David Drake.
Acknowledgments
I am very grateful to Leonard Todd, author of Carolina Clay: The Life and Legend of the Slave Potter Dave, for helping me so much with this project. He met me in Edgefield, South Carolina, to show me the places that were important in Dave’s life—where Dave lived, worked, and died. Mr. Todd was very generous with his time and expertise. Thank you also to Stephen Ferrell, resident potter at Old Edgefield Pottery, who showed me the work in his studio, including a pot signed by Dave.
Additional thanks to the following people who reviewed the manuscript for this book and offered their valuable input: Dr. Pauletta Brown Bracy, School of Library and Information Sciences, North Carolina Central University; Jill Beute Koverman, Chief Curator of Collections and Research, McKissick Museum, University of South Carolina; Emily Alyssa Owens, Doctoral Student in African American Studies and History, Harvard University; and Dr. Freddie L. Parker, Professor of History, North Carolina Central University.
Author’s Sources
Baldwin, Cinda K. Great & Noble Jar: Traditional Stoneware of South Carolina. Athens: University of George Press, 1993.
Burrison, John A. Brothers in Clay: The Story of Georgia Folk Pottery. Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1983.
“Edgefield District Pottery: Origins of Southern Stoneware.” SCIWAY News, October 2008. SCIWAY: South Carolina’s Information Highway. http://www.sciway.net/south-carolina/edgefield-district-pottery.html.
Federal Writers’ Project, comp. Georgia Slave Narratives. Carlisle, MA: Applewood Books, 2006.
——— . South Carolina Slave Narratives. Carlisle, MA: Applewood Books, 2006.
Goldberg, Arthur F., and James P. Witkowski. “Beneath His Magic Touch: The Dated Vessels of the African-American Slave Potter Dave.” Robert Hunter, ed. Ceramics in America 2006: 58–92.
Koverman, Jill Beute, ed. I Made This Jar: The Life and Works of the Enslaved African-American Potter, Dave. Columbia, SC: McKissick Museum, University of South Carolina, 1998.
Pottery, Poetry, and Politics Surrounding the Enslaved African-American Potter, Dave. Columbia, SC: McKissick Museum, University of South Carolina, 1998.
Reif, Rita. “In a Slave’s Pottery, a Saga of Courage and Beauty.” New York Times, Arts section, January 30, 2000.
Todd, Leonard. Carolina Clay: The Life and Legend of the Slave Potter Dave. New York, W. W. Norton & Company, 2008.
——— . Interviews and informal tour with the author. Edgefield area, SC: April 19 and 20, 2010.