The Milwaukee Art Museum has handed back two 19th-century stoneware jars to the descendants of the man who made them, under an agreement that lets the objects stay on display long-term. The move honors a potter whose name was a secret kept alive through the very jars he made.
The two jars were made by Dave, whose full name was David Drake. He lived in the Carolinas in the early 1800s, working as a potter while enslaved. What sets him apart is not just his skill with clay, though that was considerable. It is what he put on the jars themselves — his name, and short poems he wrote by hand.
Ownership Transferred to the Family
The Milwaukee Art Museum’s decision to return the jars follows an agreement that transfers ownership to the descendants. The arrangement allows the objects to remain on public display for years to come.
“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.”
Baker’s words speak directly to why the return matters. It is not simply a transaction. It is a recognition of a family line that has carried Drake’s name and legacy across generations.
The Poems on the Jars
Drake’s jars are not just containers. They are records of resistance. During the antebellum period, Black literacy was criminalized in the American South. Enslaved people caught teaching themselves to read faced severe punishment.
Despite that danger, Drake learned to read and write in secret. He then inscribed his name and original rhyming couplets onto the jars he threw. These poems are not decorative. They are evidence of a man exercising his mind at great personal risk.
The poems on the jars are brief, but they carry weight. They are the voice of a person who was denied the right to learn, yet found a way to leave his mark anyway.
Who Was David Drake
Drake was born into slavery around 1801 on a plantation in the Carolinas. Little is known about his early life. What historians can trace comes from a handful of records showing that as a late teen, Harvey Drake and Abner Landrum brought him to work in their pottery business in Edgefield, South Carolina.
Edgefield was the center of ceramic production in the American South during the 19th century. It was also a place where the rules against literacy were strictly enforced.
The Law Against Literacy
South Carolina had instituted anti-literacy laws for enslaved and free African Americans through the Negro Act of 1740. That law made it illegal for Black people to learn to read or write. It also forbade African Americans from earning their own money or moving abroad, and it implemented harsh corporal or even deadly penalties for violations.
Drake worked within that system. He was enslaved, and the law against literacy applied to him directly. Yet he did not let the law define him.
“It is about recognizing David Drake as our ancestor whose voice, expertise, and creativity have endured for over 175 years.”
Drake’s Craft and His Agency
Drake became a master potter known for throwing particularly large works. His skill was recognized within the pottery business where he worked. He was not just a laborer. He was an artist with a distinct reputation for scale.
But his craft was not his only talent. He also exercised his agency by incising his name into his pottery and displaying his expertise by authoring original rhyming couplets. These poems are not mere decoration. They are a record of a man who chose to assert his identity despite the risks.
A Timeline of Key Dates
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| Around 1801 | Drake born into slavery on a plantation in the Carolinas |
| Late teens | Brought to work in Harvey Drake and Abner Landrum’s pottery business in Edgefield, South Carolina |
| 1740 | South Carolina institutes the Negro Act, criminalizing Black literacy |
| 19th century | Edgefield becomes the center of ceramic production in the American South |
| Present day | Milwaukee Art Museum returns two jars to Drake’s descendants |
The Legacy Carries On
The Milwaukee Art Museum’s decision to return the jars is part of a broader trend. Museums across the country have been reconsidering how they acquired and displayed objects with complex histories tied to slavery and colonialism.
In this case, the return is not a one-time gesture. The long-term display agreement means the jars will continue to be seen by visitors, carrying Drake’s name and his poems into the future.
A Moment of Recognition
The return of the jars is a small moment, but it carries real significance. It acknowledges a man whose voice was kept alive through the very jars he made.
The jars are physical proof of a life lived with courage. They carry poems that could have gotten him killed. They carry a name that he chose to write down again and again.
For Yaba Baker and his family, the return is about more than ownership. It is about acknowledging the ancestor whose voice, expertise, and creativity have endured for over 175 years. That acknowledgment is itself a kind of inheritance.
The Milwaukee Art Museum has done something rare and generous. It has given back the jars and let the family keep them while sharing them with the public. That balance is unusual in museum practice, and it honors both the objects and the people they came from.
The jars will remain on display, and the poems will continue to be read. Drake’s voice has endured, and now it has been heard once more.
Source material: “Milwaukee Art Museum Returns Two Jars to David Drake’s Descendants,” Hyperallergic.
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