User talk:Aer112

Welcome!
Hello, Aer112, and welcome to Wikipedia! My name is Adam and I work with the Wiki Education Foundation; I help support students who are editing as part of a class assignment.

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Peer Review
Hello! It's Sophia from class and I am doing your peer review. I really enjoyed getting to read your article. What an amazing man he was! Your lead section is very clear and it gives me a sense of what the article will discuss. I saw that there is a warning on your article that says it needs some cleaning up. I think if you took the bullet points out of the "pottery" section that would give you a good first step. The information and the sentence structuring in that section are good, however, it would flow much nicer if it was in paragraph format. I thought the paragraph that talked about the poems that were put on the jars was really interesting and the quotes were useful. I liked how the article connected the poems to an act of protest. The most amazing part was when it discussed how the pots would reference constellations in order to help slaves escape north. I think it is an interesting idea to talk about the price that the pots sell for now. It says a lot about how they are valued and the importance that is placed in them. I think that in the "pottery" section you could talk more about who Drake was making the pots for. They do not look like they were inexpensive at the time, so I assumed that slaves were not buying them, however, since you mentioned the constellations, that made me think that perhaps slaves were indeed purchasing the pots. That would be something interesting to discuss. I think you could also talk about why Drake's slavemasters chose to educate him. He obviously had the ability to write and maybe even read. This was not common, so you could discuss who these masters were and in that context you could talk about why Drake was chosen to be educated and given such a specialized skill. I think the legacy section could be filled out. It would be interesting to talk about where these pots went after Drake sold them. How did these pots come to be in the Smithsonian collection? Overall, it is a wonderful article and I am so glad I got to learn about this amazing potter! Sgj7 (talk) 01:18, 18 March 2017 (UTC)

Peer Review: Jenna Clifford

Hi there, over all great work! I made notes under each section that I think could use some copy editing. I think you got all of the content down i na way that is accessible and interesting- I just think the list paragraph could be better suited as a narrative.

David Drake (also "Dave the Potter" and "Dave the Slave") (c. 1801-c. 1870s) was an American potter who lived in Edgefield, South Carolina and produced over 100 alkaline-glazed stoneware jugs from the 1820s to the 1860s. An enslaved African American, he often signed his works "Dave."[1][2][3] Dave was born around 1801 on a plantation in South Carolina, and continued to work there until the emancipation.[4] Afterward, he adopted the surname "Drake." Historians believe this is after Harry Drake, his master until 1832, who is presumed to have taught him to be a potter.[5],


 * add “he” after “and” and before “continued”
 * not sure that emancipation needs “the” before it
 * maybe instead of saying “Afterward”, say “once freed,”

Pottery[edit | edit source] Dave commonly used 25- to 40 gallon jugs, which he frequently adorned with short poems and couplets. Some of these were explanatory "Put every bit all between / surely this jar will hold 14;" and some were commentaries on the selling of slaves "I wonder where is all my relations / Friendship to all—and every nation." This unusual feature of his work is one of his most famous trademarks. Some collectors and scholars have suggested that Dave's poetry should be characterized as an early act of sedition in the cause of civil rights, because at the time it was generally forbidden for African-Americans to read and write.[6] Dave occasionally would reference constellations in the night sky as a means of instruction for runaway slaves to find their way north, often using cryptic messages such as "The sun, moon and stars / in the west are plenty of bears." This may be a reference to Ursa Major, or the Big Bear. Another couplet, "Follow the Drinking Gourd / For the old man is a-waiting for to carry you to freedom," is an instruction using another name for Ursa Major, the Drinking Gourd or Big Dipper.[4] Pieces by Dave frequently feature the initials "LM." This stood for Lewis Miles, the man who owned the pottery workshop where Dave worked (Miles may have owned Dave for a time, starting in the late 1830s).[6] Lewis Miles has even been referenced directly in one of Dave's couplets: "Dave belongs to Mr. Miles / Wher the oven bakes & the pot biles." In contemporary auctions and sales, his work has sold for over $40,000 per piece.[5] His pottery is part of the Civil War collection at the Smithsonian.[7]


 * wikipedia is suggestion this article be taken out of list format, I assume you’re planning to based on the contents: it’s all super interesting and well written, just needs to be put together in a more narrative form which I imagine is your plan

Legacy[edit | edit source] In 2010, the children's book Dave the Potter: Artist, Poet, Slave was written by Laban Carrick Hill and illustrated by Bryan Collier. The book gives a biography of Dave as well as his prowess for creating pottery. It won the Coretta Scott King Award and was a Caldecott Honor book in 2011.


 * Does Dave drake appear anywhere else in modern memory?
 * Where does his work fit within other art produced by slaves at the time? (could be an interesting addition) — Preceding unsigned comment added by Jenniferclifford (talk • contribs) 20:35, 18 March 2017 (UTC)