Testify: Americana Slavery Today exhibit comes to Albert Lea

(ABC 6 News) – The “Testify: Americana Slavery Today” photo gallery opens Wednesday at the Freeborn County Historical Museum.

Items come from former Minnesota Supreme Court Justice and Pro Football Hall of Famer Alan Page and his wife, Diane. The Page’s collection of African American art and artifacts was originally presented at the Hennepin County Library in 2018. Due to high demand, they decided to make the art available as a high-resolution photo gallery for Southeast Minnesota.

“We have the photos and then the great descriptions of what this means to our society and the injustices that have been served and how it relates to the social justice action, movement that we have going on now,” said Freeborn County Historical Museum, Library and Village executive director Stephanie Kibler.

The family hopes the exhibit will help bridge divides and open dialogue about race-related issues.

“The objects in the exhibit… juxtapose artifacts from our often-painful shared history with inspiring imagery and works of art that help us rise above it,” the late Diane Sims Page said of the collection she started.

The exhibit is open through July 28 and is free.