David Drake signed his pottery despite laws banning literacy

In the decades leading up to the Civil War, an enslaved artisan named David Drake produced thousands of alkaline glazed stoneware vessels in South Carolina. While most potters of the era remained anonymous, Drake boldly asserted his identity by signing his work as Dave and inscribing the clay with original rhyming couplets. This was a radical act of defiance, as South Carolina law at the time strictly prohibited teaching enslaved people to read or write, often punishing literacy with heavy fines or physical violence.