Edgefield County, South Carolina | March 02, 2026, 2:18 p.m. ET | 7 min read It is not unusual to find broken pieces of pottery in areas throughout the hometown of enslaved 19th-century potter and poet David Drake, affectionately known as Dave the Potter. Such pieces have been found on old plantations and near former kilns, and the glaze of those distinctive sherds – not shards – are reflective of unique craftsmanship. They also leave a trail for Drake’s descendants to learn about their 19th-century ancestor’s roots. The broken pieces might also represent a fractured lineage – the near impossibility of determining ancestry because of the horrors of chattel slavery and an uncivil war that would devastate the South and its recordkeeping. Putting the pieces back together through genealogy and, at times, mythology, is not just Drake’s story, but a tale reflective of American history. Last October, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston did something unprecedented.…