Minneapolis couple displays controversial collectibles in their home

Thier living room is strewn with Ku Klux Klan "dolls" made by Dallas schoolchildren, slave chains and branding prods. A handheld fan for the Pickaninny Restaurant and a "Coon-Jigger" toy from Alabama sit with the couch and other furniture.

Could these symbols of vile racism possibly have a place in polite society? You'd better believe it, Alan and Diane Sims Page, a Minneapolis couple, insist, if only as a reminder of how impolitely American society has treated people of color over the centuries.

"It is our history. It is who we are," said Alan Page, a former Minnesota Vikings star and a justice on the state Supreme Court. "It's an important reminder for me that life isn't always fair, that not only have things not always been equal, they're still not, and that we need to make sure we don't go back to those ways."

The Pages are hardly the only collectors of provocative black Americana. Actress Whoopi Goldberg spent thousands of dollars on black memorabilia at Minneapolis' now-defunct Cobblestone Antiques in the 1980s.

Racist collectibles are highly sought, according to the Jim Crow Museum of Racist Memorabilia at Ferris State University in Big Rapids, Mich. There are about 50,000 collectors of "black memorabilia" -- an umbrella term that includes any object related to the black experience. Since the 1970s, there has been an upsurge of interest in black collectibles, especially blatantly racist objects. The high demand has led to an escalation in prices.

Black lawn jockeys, for example, cost less than $30 in the 1970s, but now sell for at least $500 each. In fact, because of avid collectors such as Goldberg and the Pages, few Jim Crow items hit the market these days. "It's all gone," Diane Page said.

That makes the Pages' collection as priceless as it is provocative. Is there any item that is so racist that they wouldn't purchase or display it?

"Absolutely not," Diane Page said. "That would be the point, the reason to buy it. Because it is offensive, it was offensive, and we should not forget."

"We've tried to hide it," added her husband. "When it was happening, we tried to pretend like it wasn't happening. And now that it's changed, we're trying to pretend it never happened."

Diane Page provided the impetus for amassing their collection of black Americana.

"It all started when a friend of mine came over to the house, which was very contemporary. I think we had a couple of Andy Warhols on the wall," she said. "And she looked around and she said 'You have four children. Where is your African-American history for your children?' And I said, 'Where does it exist? I don't even know where to find it.' So that was kind of a wake-up call to me, and I started looking for it."

Added Alan Page: "One thing led to the next. It's been mostly Diane's doing. I've just been a fellow traveler, the beneficiary."

The Pages are collectors by nature. Alan Page's memorabilia from his Hall of Fame football career is in the basement. For years, he has sought out miniature antique replicas of Smith Miller trucks. A 1906 Buick, beautifully restored by Diane's father, Irving Sims, sits in their garage. They also have handfuls of items from sundry cultures.

"We have a few pieces that are just African," Diane Page said, "but I don't have the expertise to know what's tourist stuff and what's authentic. I'm Norwegian, so we have some Norwegian stuff. And I'm 10 percent American Indian and Alan has American Indian blood on both sides of his family, so we have some of that, too."