Crews packing up historic house in Selma for move to Detroit

From the West Alabama Newsroom–

The historic Jackson House in Selma is being dismantled — and packed up — for an 800-plus mile move to Detroit. It will become a part of Greenfield Village at the Henry Ford.

The historic house will join more than a hundred other significant pieces of American history — located on the grounds.

“We have the building in which Lincoln practiced law, we the Wright Brothers shop where they developed the first airplane,” said Facilities Management Director Alec Jerome.

The Jackson House is where Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and other leaders planned and strategized during the Selma Voting Rights Movement. Sullivan and Richie Jean Jackson opened their home to their close personal friend when he came to Selma to help lead the fight for voting rights.

The house served as the unofficial headquarters for the leaders of the movement. And the Jacksons took great care over the years to preserve the house in addition to the artifacts inside.

“The interior objects have been removed. And now we’re working on the house. We’re removing that piece by piece. And that will actually be put back in Greenfield Village in the exact configuration that it was here in Selma,” said Jerome.

Crews are now carefully disassembling the house and securing the pieces for transport.

Jerome says the move will preserve and expand the legacy of the historic Jackson House and the Selma Voting Rights Movement.

“We have an audience of a million-plus each year that we’re going to be able to reach out to. And connect either physically as they walk through the space or virtually. So we have a lot of different avenues. And we’re hoping to maximize those. So we can really share the story nationwide,” Jerome said.

The house is scheduled to be all packed up and transported by the end of the year.

The Montgomery city-bus Rosa Parks was riding when she refused to give up her seat to a white man in 1955 — is already on exhibit at the Henry Ford.