Dearborn museum to celebrate addition of historic civil rights home

The Selma, Ala. Jackson Home, a civil rights landmark, has been acquired by The Henry Ford at Greenfield Village | The Henry Ford at Greenfield Village photo

The Henry Ford at Greenfield Village will celebrate next week the addition of a noted home that was a significant site in American Civil Rights history.

Public events at the Dearborn museum on Aug. 8 will include a site dedication for the Jackson House and a panel discussion called, “From Selma to Detroit.” The Aug. 8 programs are open to the public, but people must register for the panel discussion.

“This house is a symbol for bringing liberty, justice and voting rights within the reach of all Americans,” said Patricia Mooradian, president and CEO of The Henry Ford. “The Jackson House reminds us of the struggles people faced and the courage they had to do what was right.”

Mooradian will be joined by Jawana Jackson, the only child of the Jacksons, for the site dedication. Author Michael Eric Dyson, Pulitzer Prize-winner Jonathan Eig and filmmaker Nelson George will join Jackson and moderator Jamal Simmons, a political cable news commentator and former Senior White House Official during the Biden administration. Dyson and Simmons are native Detroiters.

The museum acquired the Selma, Ala., home of Sullivan and Richie Jean Sherrod Jackson in 2023. The historic home, known as The Jackson House, served as a safe haven where the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. and others worked, collaborated, strategized and planned the historic Selma-to-Montgomery marches of 1965. The efforts served as protests against the systemic racist policies within the South and raised awareness of the struggles Black voters faced.

Nearly 60 years later, as the Jackson House takes its place in Greenfield Village, it will be preserved so that generations of people will have an opportunity to learn about its history.

Several years ago, the museum purchased through auction the Montgomery, Ala., public bus that civil rights icon Rosa Parks traveled on in December 1955 when she protested segregation. In 2012, then-President Barack Obama visited The Henry Ford and toured the bus.

The house will open to the public in 2026.

For more information on the events, click here .

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