Dave - Etched in clay: the life of Dave, enslaved potter and poet

Etched in Clay is true to the known facts of Daves life, although there are some discrepancies among sources about dates and details. The story is a narrative biography, told in verse, with some imagined scenes, people, thoughts, and dialogue. These parts of the story are dramatic extensions of historically documented events and interactions. While the language used by both white characters and enslaved African American characters in nineteenth-century South Carolina has been standardized for modern readers, Daves inscriptions are included in their original form. Daves inscriptions from CAROLINA CLAY: THE LIFE AND LEGEND OF THE SLAVE POTTER DAVE by Leonard Todd. Copyright 2008 by Leonard Todd.

Used by permission of W. W. Norton & Company, Inc. Text and illustrations copyright 2013 by Andrea Cheng All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, transmitted, or stored in an information retrieval system in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission from the publisher. LEE & LOW BOOKS Inc., 95 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016 leeandlow.com Manufactured in the United States of America by Worzalla Publishing Company, November 2012 Book design by Christy Hale Book production by The Kids at Our House The text is set in Book Antigua The illustrations are rendered as woodcuts 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 First Edition Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Cheng, Andrea.

Etched in clay : the life of Dave, enslaved potter and poet / Andrea Cheng ; woodcuts by the author. 1st ed. p. cm. Summary: The life of Dave, an enslaved potter who inscribed his works with sayings and poems in spite of South Carolinas slave anti-literacy laws in the years leading up to the Civil War. Includes afterword, authors note, and sourcesProvided by publisher.

ISBN 978-1-60060-451-5 (hardcover : alk. paper) ISBN 978-1-60060-893-3 (e-book) 1. Dave, fl. 1834-1864Juvenile literature. 2. 3. 3.

African American poetBiographyJuvenile literature. 4. SlavesSouth CarolinaBiographyJuvenile literature. [1. Dave, fl. 2. 2.

African American potters. 3. African American poets. 4. SlavesSouth Carolina.] I. Title.

NK4210.D247C54 2012 738.092dc23 [B] 2012027280

To Ann Contents Map This map shows the relative locations of places important in Daves life. Stony Bluff, which was in the vicinity of Pottersville and Horse Creek, is not indicated. Its location is known only to a few researchers, and the precise spot has not been revealed.

Introduction H istorical records show that the first documentation of ownership of an enslaved young man known as Dave is a mortgage agreement dated June 13, 1818. This agreement indicates that Dave was about seventeen years old and was owned by Harvey Drake. Most likely, Drake purchased Dave at a slave auction in Augusta, Georgia, prior to 1818 and took him to Pottersville, a village outside Edgefield, South Carolina, where Drake and his unclesthe Landrum brothershad a stoneware pottery business.

Eventually Dave was taught how to make pots, jugs, and jars on a potters wheel; fire them; and glaze them using the Landrums famous alkaline glazes. Soon Dave became one of the best potters in the Edgefield district. Here is his inspiring story.

Abner Landrum and partner in Pottersville Stoneware Manufactory; first known owner of Dave, from sometime before 1818 until 1832. DAVE (LATER NAMED DAVID DRAKE) (1801LATE 1870S) Enslaved man, country born (born in the United States); by age seventeen owned by Harvey Drake; later sold several times to various members of Drakes extended family over the next fifty years. ELIZA (1799DEATH DATE UNKNOWN) Enslaved woman, possibly Daves first wife. SARAH DRAKE (BIRTH AND DEATH DATES UNKNOWN) Wife of Harvey Drake; deeply spiritual member of the Edgefield Village Baptist Church. LYDIA (BIRTH AND DEATH DATES UNKNOWN) Enslaved woman, possibly Daves second wife; mother of two boys, John and George. government tried to impose on it. government tried to impose on it.

REUBEN DRAKE (1800SOMETIME IN THE 1850S) Brother of Harvey Drake; purchased Dave after Harveys death and owned Dave in Pottersville until about 1836. HENRY SIMKINS (BIRTH AND DEATH DATES UNKNOWN) Enslaved man who worked with Dave at the pottery works in Pottersville, Horse Creek, and Stony Bluff. REV. JOHN LANDRUM (17651846) Brother of Dr. Abner Landrum and Amos Landrum; purchased Dave to work at his pottery works in Horse Creek; owned Dave from about 1836 until 1846. BENJAMIN FRANKLIN LANDRUM (18111880) Son of Rev.

John Landrum and brother of Mary Landrum Miles; built his own pottery works in another part of Horse Creek and owned Dave from 1847 until about 1849. MARY LANDRUM MILES (18121877) Daughter of Rev. John Landrum and wife of Lewis Miles. LEWIS MILES (18081869) Son-in-law of Rev. John Landrum and husband of Mary Landrum Miles; Rev. Landrum lent him Dave to work at his own pottery works in Horse Creek; later built a pottery works in Stony Bluff and owned Dave from about 1849 until the end of the Civil War in 1865.

Pottersville Stoneware Manufactory DR. ABNER LANDRUM, 1810 Near Edgefield I found the perfect place. The forest is thick with maples and oaks. Streams run like veins through the South Carolina clay, smooth and deep red with pockets of white. Someday soon our slaves will stand knee-deep in the water, digging clay from the banks while the wagon drivers wait. Well have one strong mule at the mill to turn the post and grind the clay, and a turning house with potters wheels.

Well stoke up the fire in our furnace and bake our pots hot to melt the glaze. Should we call ourselves Landrum Brothers Pottery? No, too ordinary for the finest jugs and jars in all the land! Allow me to introduce our soon-to-be world-famous Pottersville Stoneware Manufactory. Pottersville Partners DR. ABNER LANDRUM, 1814 My older brother Amos is a salesman through and through, but his love of drink and the ladies distracts him from our business. Let me also ask my nephew Harvey Drake to lend a hand. Weak of body but sound of mind, he is a thoughtful man, and prudent too.

Augusta Auction HARVEY DRAKE, 1815 My uncle did not send me to the market for peaches or green beans or squash. I make my way to the auction block crowded with people, watching. The Negro mothers wail while their children cling to them like melons to their vines. One slave stands alone, young but not a child, strong enough to haul the clay up the slippery, steep banks of the stream. See here, Young Master, shouts the auctioneer. Hes only six hundred dollars, country born, good teeth, straight back.