“We think he is an unsung hero in Black history,” descendants of “Dave the Potter” said

NEED TO KNOW

• David Drake, a 19th-century ceramicist, signed and dated his pottery despite laws barring enslaved people from reading or writing
• His descendants learned about the celebrated South Carolina potter only about a decade ago
• Drake’s family plans to display returned works publicly while preserving his legacy for future generations

The Milwaukee Art Museum is returning 19th-century artwork made by enslaved ceramicist David Drake to his descendants.

Drake, also known as “Dave the Potter,” lived in South Carolina. He was born around 1800 and is believed to have died around 1865. 

During a time when it was illegal for enslaved people to read or write, he became well-known for creating lasting art with the date and his name signed in the pottery. Some contain inscriptions of short poems, according to the Dave the Potter Legacy Trust, which is run by his living relatives.

In an interview published Tuesday, Sept. 29, by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Kantara Souffrant, senior director of community dialogue and adult programs at the Milwaukee Art Museum, said she supported restoring items like these to his descendants because the objects are “a way of really, truly gathering your family, family you didn’t know.”

The Milwaukee Art Museum returned two stoneware vessels created by Drake on Sept. 9, the Journal Sentinel reported. The Dave the Potter Legacy Trust previously reached agreements with Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts in 2025 and the Georgia Museum of Art in July.

Drake’s descendants told The New York Times in March that they had only learned who he was 10 years prior. Since then, they have worked to preserve his legacy and set up a way for other relatives to connect.

“Because of slavery, so many African Americans don’t even know where to start,” Daisy Whitner, a descendant of Drake, told the Times. “We don’t know who our people are.”

In 2021, a 25-gallon, four-handled stoneware “poem jar” by Drake set a world record for American pottery when it sold for $1.56 million at an auction, per the Times. However, his family didn’t previously own or see restitution from the proceeds.

“These pots are assets, and families are going to use them to build generational wealth or pass them down,” Yaba Baker, Drake’s great-great-great-great-grandson, told the outlet. “And then our kids, who are actually relatives of Drake, are applying for student loans.

“It doesn’t make sense for this to continue,” he added. “Why should this work benefit other families and not ours?”

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Before his descendants knew of his existence, Drake’s work first appeared in the Milwaukee Art Museum in 2010, when the Chipstone Foundation exhibited his work. Chipstone bought the two vessels from an art dealer in 2013 and gifted them to the museum earlier this year, the Journal Sentinel reported.

Years later, after his family expressed interest in wanting to be reunited with his work, the Milwaukee Art Museum came up with a way to ethically and legally transfer the vessels to Drake’s descendants, per the Journal Sentinel.

Other museums across the country where Drake’s artwork has been displayed have also returned pieces to his descendants.

“All the jars that have come back to us that have signatures or poems on them are on display in a museum so the public can see them,” Baker said in a Sept. 26 interview with the Times. “Our goal is to make sure that the public gets a chance to get to know Dave. We think he is an unsung hero in Black history.”

The Milwaukee Art Museum’s vessels will go back on public video on Wednesday, Sept. 30, the Journal Sentinel reported. The museum purchased one of them from the trust, while the second will be on display through a long-term loan, according to the outlet.

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