The compelling story of a talented potter enslaved by the authors ancestors who became one of the singular artists of the nineteenth century.He signed many of his works simply as Dave and is known today as Potter David Drake.ampamp160He made pots and storage jarseveryday items but because of their beauty and massive size and because Dave signed and inscribed many with poems they are valuable works of art now commanding six figures at auction. Many of Daves astounding jars are found now in Americas finest museums.There is no other enslaved artist on record who dared to put his name on his work a dangerous advertisement of literacy. Fascinated by this man and by his own troubling family history Leonard Todd moved from Manhattan to Edgefield South Carolina the place where his ancestors had established a thriving pottery industry in the early 1800s.