The Milwaukee Art Museum has transferred ownership of two stoneware jars by David Drake, the enslaved potter from South Carolina, to his descendants. The agreement, reported by The New York Times on 26 September and announced by the museum on its social media channels, keeps both vessels on public display in Milwaukee.
According to reporting by Wisconsin Public Radio, the jars were transferred to the Dave the Potter Legacy Trust, a company set up by Drake’s living relatives. Under the arrangement, the museum has the option to buy back one of the vessels, while the other remains in Milwaukee on long-term loan from the family. The jars had been associated with the Chipstone Foundation, which first brought them to the museum in 2010; they have been on display there since 2015.
Drake was born into slavery in South Carolina around 1801 and became known for the technical ambition of his large stoneware vessels. At a time when it was illegal for enslaved people to read and write, he signed many of his works and inscribed them with lines of verse. Hyperallergic reports that the two Milwaukee jars, dated around 1840–50 and 1855, both carry his name and poetry.
Yaba Baker, Drake’s fourth great-grandson, said the agreement was about more than ownership of the two pieces, describing it as recognition of Drake as an ancestor whose voice and skill have lasted for more than 175 years. Wisconsin Public Radio quotes him as saying that the family’s main aim is to keep Drake’s work in public view.
The Milwaukee transfer follows comparable agreements between Drake’s descendants and other American museums, including the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and the Georgia Museum of Art, both reached in 2025.
