On the first Sunday in February, I ascended the steps of New York City’s Metropolitan Museum of Art, bought my ticket, and headed for an exhibition that friends had urged me to see. “Hear Me Now: The Black Potters of Old Edgefield South Carolina,” highlights the incredible craftsmanship of a group of 19th century potters, who created stunningly beautiful alkaline-glazed pots. Created from Edgefield County, South Carolina’s rich red clay that has made the area a haven for stoneware production, these huge pots were created for food storage in pre-refrigeration times. The Met is to be commended for launching this traveling exhibition, given that functional art, as well as artwork created by African-Americans, hasn’t received the recognition it deserves from the museum world.

Even more astounding is that the Black Potters of Old Edgefield, South Carolina were enslaved people. In spite of their skills and artistry, they were treated as property, in an industrial-slavery operation designed to enrich their owners. The Edgefield Potters filled massive kilns, some of which have been recently excavated. Experiencing this exhibit, admiring the graceful beauty of each pot, I experienced both awe and grief, as I contemplated the great injustices suffered by these enslaved potters. On display were the creations of David Drake, who more than 150 years after his death, has become a celebrity in the art world. Born in 1800, Drake’s magnificent vessels are viewed by many as expressions of resistance. In an era when South Carolina law mandated illiteracy for Black people, David Drake was able to read and write. Risking physical punishment, including death, he inscribed some of his pots with short verses, which have been viewed as defiant and poignant commentaries about his enslaved status. “I wonder where is all my relations — Friendship to all and every nation,” carved on a 19-inch greenware pot, in 1857, may relate to a separation from loved ones. He engraved another pot with the poem, “Horses, mules and hogs/all our cows is in the bogs/there they shall ever stay/till the buzzards take them away.” A descendant of David Drake, Daisy Whitmer, described these words as, ” … talking in code about how the slave people lay there until the buzzards picked the meat from their bones.”

Information about David Drake is largely based on conjecture and often disputed. There is controversy regarding how he learned to read and write and where he was trained as a potter. Although he is often referred to as Dave the Potter, out of respect I chose to use his surname. He allegedly took the name “Drake” after his first owner.

A biography of David Drake, entitled, “Carolina Clay: The Life and Legend of the Slave Potter Dave,” written by Leonard Todd, a descendant of Drake’s enslavers, hypothesizes that David Drake must have had a positive connection with his enslavers in order to inscribe his pottery. Such a statement ignores the exploitative realities of a master-slave relationship. Another subject of controversy was how David Drake lost one of his legs. Todd blames it on a railroad accident, possibly due to drunkenness, while co-curator of the Museum of Fine Arts’ current exhibition of “Hear Me Now,” Ethan Lasser, questions the acceptance of such “racist tropes.” Evidence of reading and writing might have resulted in barbaric punishments enslaved people were subjected to, including amputation of limbs.

David Drake’s current fame has resulted in a demand for his pots from collectors and museums.

While the enslaved potter was sold for $800, one of his pots was recently purchased by a museum for $1.5 million. Prestigious museums and collectors across the U.S., including the MFA have added David Drake’s pots to their collections. As I left the MET that cold Sunday in February, I wondered whether any of David Drake’s descendants had received reparations for his prized pots. His living relatives only recently learned of their relationship to their enslaved grandfather from generations past. Since that time David Drake’s relatives, like 84 year old Daisy Whitner, have tried to connect with the enslaved artist as a human being, who risked his life to inscribe his pots with his personal testimonies. Given that David Drake, who received no compensation, can be directly traced to his living family members, it’s unconscionable that the only memento the family has received is a small replica of one of his pots and a plaque that commemorate David Drake’s induction into the South Carolina Hall of Fame.

Museums are more and more exposed as hotbeds for artifacts belonging to countries looted by colonizers, as well as art rightfully belonging to the heirs of victims of the Holocaust. Now they must face the question of what is owed for the uncompensated artwork of enslaved people. Certainly museums like the Met and the MFA, that claim to value the work of artists like David Drake, must do their part to repair the wealth gap that began with enslavement and continues to deprive generations of Black people from achieving economic equality.

“Hear Me Now: The Black Potters of Old Edgefield, South Carolina,” is on display at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston until July 9. Take some time to contemplate the artistry of these potters, with all its complexities.

Sara Weinberger of Easthampton is a professor emerita of social work and writes a monthly column. She can be reached at columnists@gazettenet.com.]]>