The Henry Ford in Dearborn, Michigan, has announced a $5 million grant from the Fred A. and Barbara M. Erb Family Foundation in support of the Jackson House project.

The Jackson House, the Selma, Alabama home of Sullivan Jackson and Richie Jean Sherrod Jackson, served as a safe haven where Martin Luther King, Jr. and other civil rights leaders worked, collaborated, strategized, and planned the 1965 marches from Selma to Montgomery, which helped raise awareness of the struggles Black voters faced. Jawana Jackson, the only child of the Jacksons and the sole owner of the home, contacted The Henry Ford in 2022 and requested that it be relocated to the campus in Dearborn, which houses more than 80 historic structures reflecting pivotal moments in our history. The gift will support a multiyear effort to relocate the Jackson House to Greenfield Village, as well as reconstruction, on-site programming, and digital access.

“We believe this project comes at a time that resonates all too much with what our parents witnessed in the ’60s, as our country is experiencing increasing efforts to erase Black history and the contributions that Black Americans, like those of the Jackson family and other civil rights activists,” said Erb Foundation president and chair John Erb. “My parents would be so proud to see the foundation helping to uplift these stories and inspire a better and stronger future for this generation and ones to come.”

(Photo credit: Nyttend/Public domain)