Richie Jean Sherrod Jackson’s pale yellowish-green home on the side of the road could easily be missed while driving down Lapsley, however, the inner décor of the house paints the picture of what the 1960s in Selma looked like.

Walking down the hallways, the powerful aura of key civil rights figures such as Ralph Abernathy and the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. overtakes visitors and may even bring them to tears. Jackson tells the story of time spent with King and his wife Coretta Scott and how their friendship grew through one of the most turbulent eras in history. The surreal, indescribable ambience of King’s spirit encompasses you as one tries to embrace the very words and feelings expressed by King and his followers. The atmosphere may cause visitors to envision mental re-enactments of the places where the men held meetings, slept and communed.

Nearly one month ago, the Selma City Council presented Jackson with a plaque honoring her home as an affiliated site in the Selma-to-Montgomery National Historical Trail.  On Feb. 28, the Dallas County Commission presented Jackson with a proclamation recognizing her personal and professional achievements and the impact she and her home made in society’s struggle for equality and justice. Probate Judge Kim Ballard declared the day as “Richie Jean Sherrod Jackson Day” in Dallas County.

Jackson, who considers herself a “friend to man,” opened her home up to many civil rights pioneers. While attending Alabama State University, she attended her aunt’s church on Dexter Avenue — the same church where King spoke his first sermon. A friendship later ensued.

“My home was Dr. King’s headquarters,” Jackson said. “He had been coming since 1958 and he was like a friend and brother to me. I knew the man and didn’t focus on the “image” of the man. King being in my house was nothing unusual or strange. King was at home when he came here.”

Born in 1932 in Mobile, Jackson moved to Sumter County at the age of 3, where her father was a brakeman for the AT&T Railroad Company. Because of her mother’s distaste for the area’s educational system, Jackson left Sumter when she was 6-years-old.

“She moved me to Selma, where I started the first grade,” Jackson said. “After completing the sixth grade, my mother then sent me to Washington D.C. to move with my uncle and his wife until I completed high school.”

After receiving her Bachelor of Science degree from ASU in secondary education, Jackson said it was hard for her to find immediate employment. She later took a job with the Selma Housing Authority.

“I worked there for a while but my supervisor, who was a white man, fired me because he said I didn’t speak subserviently,” Jackson said. “It all worked out in the end because I was able to stay at home and meet Martin.”

Jackson’s fiery and bold spirit seemed fitting for the time, and with the terror of the Ku Klux Klan and racial epithets reigning supreme, Jackson remained fearless and unscathed. As many foot soldiers of the voting and civil rights eras fought against disenfranchisement, in 2008 history was made as the United States elected its first black president Barack Obama. Jackson said King would be proud.

“He’d be pleased,” Jackson said. “He’d offer his guidance and help to Obama if he’d needed it.”

For more on Jackson’s story and her role in the civil rights movement, check out her book “The House By the Side of the Road.”