… at 409 South Union Street, said to be “simple but stylish”, was built in 1853 by Jefferson Jackson, the same man who built Moulton House. Jackson was US Attorney for both the Middle and Northern Districts of Alabama. He was a reluctant secessionist who died in 1862, but his widow was an unrepentant CSA supporter, who, after the surrender was reprimanded by Federal occupation officials for loudly playing “continuous Rebel tunes”. Ironically, in 1943 Jackson’s descendants sold the property to the City Federation of Colored Women’s Clubs. Over the years since, it has served as an important “Community House” for the Black populace. In the 1950s the Montgomery Library operated a branch in the house. In 1955 it was the site from which the Bus Boycott was launched. In 2004 it fell my lot to negotiate with the ladies of the Federation over issues expected to arise as a huge RSA construction project starting that year was to abut their ground; despite generous offers by RSA, my efforts did not end happily. The house was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1984.

-Charles Humphries