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The enslaved potter known as Dave inscribed poetry onto the pottery he made over the course of more than forty years. He is the only known antebellum Southern potter to do so. Born in the United States around 1800, Dave learned to craft stoneware as an adolescent at Pottersville, which was established by Abner Landrum in 1815, while he was enslaved by Harvey Drake, Abner Landrum’s nephew and business partner. Harvey Drake died in 1832, though Dave continued to work at Pottersville under Harvey’s brother, Reuben. Dave faced the harsh reality of being enslaved by three more Edgefield pottery manufacturers during his life, first by Abner Landrum’s brother John, who had established his own pottery at Horse Creek, next by John Landrum’s son Benjamin Franklin, and finally by Lewis Miles, John Landrum’s son-in-law. See “Stoneware Stories: Folk Pottery of Edgefield, South Carolina” on display, pre-security, in the International Terminal. http://bit.ly/StonewareStories This image was posted on January 04, 2022.