Teams pack up historic Selma home for move to Detroit

From the West Alabama Newsroom –

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

The historic home will stand on the site along with more than a hundred other significant pieces of American history.

“We have the building where Lincoln practiced law, we have the Wright brothers’ shop where they developed the first airplane,” said Alec Jerome, director of facilities management.

The Jackson House is where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and other leaders developed plans and strategies 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 lead the fight for voting rights.

The house served as an unofficial headquarters for the movement’s leaders. And the Jacksons have taken great care over the years to preserve the home and the artifacts within it.

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

The teams now carefully dismantle the house and secure the individual parts 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 over a million to reach each year. And connect either physically as they walk across the room or virtually. So we have lots of different options. And we hope to maximize this. “So we can really spread the story nationally,” Jerome said.

The house should be fully packed and transported by the end of the year.

The Montgomery city bus that Rosa Parks rode when she refused to give up her seat to a white man in 1955 is already on display at the Henry Ford.