Please do not use any of these images without written permission.

The infant, Patience, is my maternal great-grandmother.
Her enslaved mother, whose name is not known, is holding her.
Patience was called True Pash as a child.

The elderly man is my sharecropper grandfather, MacDuffie Williamson,
son of Patience. I am the infant in this picture being held by one of
my aunts.

My mother, Patience, was named after her grandmother, True Pash.

My parents Percy Lee Drake & Patience Williamson Drake

With my dad, Percy L. Drake, born 1912, in Nash County, N.C.

Easter Sunday I'm wearing a bonnet made by my mother.

The sun is really bright on Easter Sunday.

Me and my sister, Gerrie

With my father and a playmate

Teachers and staff at my
beloved John Marshall Elementary School.
The building was demolished in the 1970's

4th Grade

In my May Day dress

We loved bangs and ribbons back then.

In a tobacco field with my grandfather

On my grandfather's porch

My segregated high school is now a middle school.

Debutante at sweet sixteen

Huntington High School Graduate

Another Easter Sunday

The First Baptist Church 23rd and Jefferson Ave in Newport News, VA
had beautiful stained glass windows and a bell steeple.
Baptist Training Union (BTU) was an integral part of life!

Graduation from Hampton Institute.

Expressions of Black Arts Festival
Richmond Chapter, National Conference of Artists
Eastminister Presbyterian Church
1976
(Photo by Earle Taylor)

Reading a poem inspired by
Esther Phillips
(Photo by Earle Taylor)

With Sterling Brown
Fourth National Conference of Afro-American Writers
Howard University

Expressions Festival
Richmond Chapter, National Conference of Artists
Eastminister Presbyterian Church

Jazz Fest, Dogwood Dell at Byrd Park
Richmond, VA (Photo by Jerry Bass)

Poet in the classroom 1980
(Photo by Paul Canady)

Richmond Public Schools (Photo by Paul Canady)

Reading with musical accompaniment at Grove Avenue
Gallery is fun !

Now Carriage House Book Shop
Harrison Street, Richmond

The Valentine Museum
accompanied by Elijah Parker
Richmond, VA

Poet in the Classroom (Photo by Paul Canady)

Richmond Public Schools (Photo by Paul Canady)

Romare Bearden autographs my catalogue. Virginia Museum of Fine Arts

I'm delighted

to read

my poetry

on the occasion of the
Romare Bearden (1970 - 1980)
Exhibition

Virginia Museum of Fine Arts 

Poet in the classroom
(Photo by Paul Canady)

Richmond Public Schools
(Photo by Paul Canady)

Richmond Public Schools
(Photo by Paul Canady)

Poet in the classroom
I used Marvin Gaye's What's Going On?
to help students learn about process
(Photo by Paul Canady)

I'm singing spirituals acapella
(Photo by Earle Taylor)

in between poems
(Photo by Earle Taylor)

Richmond Public Library
Gellman Room
(Photo by Earle Taylor)

Reading to several classes
(Photo by Paul Canady)

Poet in the classroom
(Photo by Paul Canady)

Richmond Public Schools
(Photo by Paul Canady)

Westhampton School
Clinical Social Worker

My classroom at Westhampton School

We often had fun at Westhampton School

My MFA graduating class
at Virginia Commonwealth University
1991
(Photo by Biljana Obradovic)

Poet in the classroom
(Photo by Paul Canady)

Richmond Public Schools
I'm talking about The Five Keys
from Newport News, VA
(Photo by Paul Canady)

Richmond Public Schools
That's right!
(Photo by Paul Canady)

Centennial Celebration
City of Newport News, Virginia
First Church (Baptist) Wickham Ave
formerly
First Baptist 23rd Jefferson Ave
- demolished in the 1970's -
(Photo by the late Leonard Bridges)

Poet in the classroom
(Photo by Paul Canady)

Richmond Public Schools
(Photo by Paul Canady)

Writer in the classroom
(Photo by Paul Canady)