House Where King Planned Historic Marches Being Moved to Michigan

A home that was integral to the Civil Rights Movement is being carefully dismantled and moved from Alabama to Michigan.

A Home Where History Was Created

The home in Selma, Alabama was a safe haven for Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. as he strategized and planned for the historic marches from Selma to the State Capital in Montgomery in 1965. It has been acquired by the Henry Ford Museum and will be relocated to Greenfield Village.

The historic, 3,000-square-foot home belonged to King's brother, Dr. Sullivan Jackson, and his wife Richie Jean. Dr. King was a dentist in the area and welcomed his brother and other civil rights activists into their home as they planned three marches against racist Jim Crow laws that stripped Black people of the right to vote in the Deep South.

Jawana Jackson was four years old when her uncle Martin was preparing for the historic marches. She contacted the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn to see if it would be interested in taking over the house that belonged to her parents, in order to preserve its legacy.

Ms. King tells the Associated Press that her uncle was inside the home when then-President Lyndon Johnson announced a bill that would later become the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

"It became increasingly clearer to me that the house belonged to the world, and quite frankly, The Henry Ford was the place that I always felt in my heart that it needed to be," Jawana Jackson tells the AP. "There was a synergy going on in that house during those critical times."

 

Making the 800-Mile Journey

The home, as well as various artifacts, will soon begin making the 800-mile journey from Selma to Dearborn. King's ties, pajamas, and the chair where he sat while watching President Johnson's television broadcast are also going to be included in the exhibit which will reside at Greenfield Village.

It's expected to take two to three years for the project to be completed and the purchase price of the home has been kept confidential.