Black Folk Art or racist objects? [View All]

My wife received a catalog the other day from a company she's never heard of before. At first she was excited because there were some nice rustic things for the kitchen that she really liked, then she came upon a section with slave Mammy items like a syrup dispenser, cookie jar, etc. They look like an older, very dark, slave "mammy". They remind you of the black jockeys that people used to have by their front door (most of which have now been repainted white).

A few pages later there are even more "Mammy" objects, the most offensive was a set of hand towels with stereotypical slave scenes (slave children in a watermelon patch, dancing, and eating big watermelons). The catalog describes these items as "black folk art."

By this time my wife was very upset, and she asked for my opinion. Here is the URL of the store: http://www.thecountryhouse.com/search.asp It's a search page. Type in mammy and you will see a couple of the items.

I found them offensive, too, and my first impression was that these items were meant to appeal to rural southerners who pine for the good ol' days, but I'm not 100% sure. What do you think?