DEARBORN, Mich. (WXYZ) — The historic Jackson Home, where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and his closest advisors planned the pivotal Selma-to-Montgomery march in 1965, has found a new home at the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan.
The single-story house, weighing roughly 150,000 pounds and spanning nearly 2,100 square feet, was transported over 850 miles from Selma, Alabama in two sections. It marks the first historic home added to Henry Ford's collection in more than 40 years and will officially open to the public this summer.
"The home in which Martin Luther King and all of his lieutenants planned the Selma to Montgomery Voting Rights Act, the march that became the Voting Rights Act, in 1965," said Cynthia Jones, Director of Museum Experiences at the Henry Ford. "It's just a fascinating history because it's a history of a home, of a family that was welcoming a movement maker as a place of rest, as a place of restoration, as a place of meetings."
The preservation project began with an unexpected phone call to the museum's president from Jawana Jackson, whose parents, Dr. Sullivan and Richie Jean Sherrod Jackson were close friends and allies of Dr. King. Jawana, who knew King as "uncle Martin," dedicated herself to preserving the powerful legacy of her family's home.
"Our president got a phone call, and it was a woman named Jawana Jackson. We had never been friends with her before. We didn't know her. She called us blind," Jones said.
Over the past year and a half, museum staff have been meticulously restoring the home. The project salvaged 4,300 original bricks to restore foundations and chimneys, while preserving nearly 6,000 artifacts from the historic residence.
"The sconce was on the living room wall. And so when we look at photos like this photo of Joanna, you can see that in the background. And so we're matching these family photos, this family history to the moment so that we can share with the public all of the amazing things that happened here," Jones said.
For Jones, the most compelling aspect of the project is the family's courage during a dangerous time in civil rights history.
"That moment of choice-making, of a family that was putting their young daughter, Joanna Jackson, at risk by standing for what they believed was right," Jones said.
When the Jackson Home opens this June as part of Greenfield Village, visitors will be able to step inside and experience a key chapter of civil rights history firsthand.
"So understanding that each and every one of us has history unfolding every day in our home, I think it's going to be a lesson and a takeaway that people receive out of this," Jones said.
The relocation from Alabama to Michigan carried a price tag of approximately $15 million, with an additional $15 million required for ongoing maintenance and preservation. The museum is seeking donations to support the project's continued preservation efforts.
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