The Jackson family’s story shines a spotlight on ordinary people playing a small role in extraordinary moments in history and reminds us of the impact we all can have as well. As Richie Jean writes, “We cannot all be a Martin Luther King Jr., but each and every one of us can make a positive difference in the lives of our families and the people we meet each day. For you see the dream is still alive.”

In 2025, the country celebrates the 60th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act, the culmination of decades of activism by African Americans in the mid-20th century. The Henry Ford in 2023 acquired Dr. Sullivan and Mrs. Richie Jean [Sherrod] Jackson's home — a pivotal location for the Selma voting rights movement — to help preserve this unique story of family, community and justice into the future.

The Jackson Home is pivotal as one of several key locations to the Selma Voting Rights Movement. Read more about The Henry Ford's preservation process.

In this interview, Jeanine Head Miller (Curator of Domestic Life), and Charles Sable (Curator of Decorative Arts) sat down with Kristen Gallerneaux (Curator and Editor-in-Chief of Digital Curation) to share their efforts to restore the interiors and furnishings of The Jackson Home. This article is part of an ongoing series focusing on the history, preservation, and restoration of the landmark Jackson Home experience, slated to open in Greenfield Village in Summer 2026.

In 2026, the Jackson Home from Selma, Alabama will open, becoming the first home to be added to this collection of historic structures in over forty years. The home comes to us with the inspiring story of a courageous family and community at the forefront of one of the most crucial moments of the civil rights movement in America.

It was March 15, 1965, when members of the Jackson Family and guests gathered in their homes to listen to President Johnson give this speech. This was also the seventh wedding anniversary for “Sully” and Richie Jean. The President began: “At times history and fate meet at a single time in a single place to shape a turning point in man's unending search for freedom. So it was at Lexington and Concord. So it was a century ago at Appomattox. So it was last week in Selma, Alabama.”

In the Spring of 2023, the contents of an entire house - 9,000 everyday objects, including photographs, documents, books, and household items, were logged, packed, and shipped from Selma, Alabama to Dearborn, Michigan. That house was the Jackson Family Home, which was recently moved to its new permanent home in Greenfield Village – you can find out more about the move here!

The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was a landmark piece of legislation that forever changed the lives of many people of color in the United States and set the course for other groups to pursue their full rights as citizens. Yet, despite the successful legislation, many Black people and other people of color across the United States, particularly in the South, continued to be denied the right to vote.

Music is a part of the Jackson family story, from the piano lessons that first brought young Richie Jean Sherrod soon-to-be-Jackson and young Corretta Scott soon-to-be-King together to the family's music room that housed an impressive record collection. In fact, Dr. Sullivan Jackson played tenor saxophone prior to his career as a dentist serving Selma's Black community. Dr. Jackson's time as a musician in the mid-1940s to the early-1950s allowed him to participate in Black American music cultural changes.