The National Association of Interpretation (NAI) and the International Association of Tour Directors and Guides (IATDG) invite you to participate in a joint study Civil Rights tour in Alabama, December 1 - 5, 2026, during which professionals from both fields will enrich their perspectives by learning from one another.

The tour will demonstrate the tenets of tour directing and guiding while visiting interpretive sites in Alabama, and will include facilitated conversations aimed at building skill-sets. 


Learn and Practice Firsthand

Interpretive techniquesTour Director and Guide Skills
Why interpretation mattersMeets and Greets
Balancing preservation and accessSeat Rotation
Adaptation and ResilienceCreating a group dynamic
Myth-making vs Responsible StorytellingHotel check in
Cultural LayeringWorking with a driver


Tour Overview


Day 1 (Tuesday, December 1): Birmingham
Mix and Mingle
Dinner with entertainment

Day 2 (Wednesday, December 2): Birmingham

A.G. Gaston Motel 

16th Street Baptist Church

Birmingham Civil Rights Institute

Lunch with Ms. Barbara Shores, the daughter of Attorney Arthur Shores 

Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame

Dinner


Day 3 (Thursday, December 3): Birmingham → Selma → Montgomery   

Breakfast at Sloss Furnaces National Historic Landmark

Barber Motorsports Park & Museum

Depart for Selma

Begin your journey in Selma with an immersive introduction to the events that shaped the modern Civil Rights Movement and forever changed America. 

The Walk – Edmund Pettus Bridge

The Lowndes County Interpretive Center

Dinner & Entertainment 


Day 4 (Friday, December 4): Montgomery

Dexter Avenue King Memorial Baptist Church

Dexter Parsonage Museum

Harris House & Historic Montgomery Driving Tour

The Holt Street Baptist Church Experience

Rosa Parks Museum

Montgomery Square

Dinner & Entertainment

Explore Downtown Montgomery on Your Own - Enjoy free time to experience downtown Montgomery’s restaurants, nightlife, and riverfront atmosphere.


Day 5 (Saturday, December 5): Montgomery

The Legacy Museum

The National Memorial for Peace and Justice

Freedom Monument Sculpture Park

Depart for Birmingham**

**Drop off at BHM Birmingham - Shuttlesworth International Airport  on Saturday, December 5, 2026, at 5:00 PM. 


Hotels

Birmingham - Elyton Hotel, Autograph Collection 

Montgomery - Elevation Convening Center & Hotel



What's Included

  • Four nights hotel (December 1-4)
  • Four breakfasts with hotel stays, four lunches, and four dinners;
  • Motorcoach for the full route and drop-off at BHM on December 5.
  • Activities and entrance fees
  • Tips are not included but are always recommended for the guides and drivers


Price for Five-Day FAM (Familiarization) Tour: $549

Single supplement (Room by yourself): $685



About Your Tour


Day One, December  - Arrival in Birmingham

Day Two, December 2 - Birmingham



A.G. Gaston Motel 

Step into one of the most significant gathering places of the Birmingham Civil Rights Movement. The A.G. Gaston Motel served as a headquarters for Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Rev Fred Shuttlesworth, and other movement leaders during the pivotal 1963 Birmingham Campaign. Today, the site offers a powerful window into the strategy, courage, and community organizing that helped transform Birmingham and the nation.

16th Street Baptist Church

Visit one of the most powerful landmarks of the Civil Rights Movement. A center of organizing during the 1963 Birmingham Campaign, 16th Street Baptist Church became the site of the devastating bombing that killed four young girls on September 15, 1963. Today, the historic church stands as both a memorial to their lives and a testament to the courage, sacrifice, and resilience of those who fought for equality.


Birmingham Civil Rights Institute

Explore the people, events, and stories that placed Birmingham at the heart of the Civil Rights Movement. Through powerful exhibits, photographs, artifacts, and firsthand accounts, the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute brings the struggle for equality to life while connecting this pivotal history to the ongoing pursuit of human and civil rights.

Lunch with Barbara Shores, daughter of Arthur Shores

Share a special lunch and conversation with Ms. Barbara Shores, daughter of pioneering civil rights attorney Arthur Shores, who represented Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and played a vital role in the fight to dismantle segregation in Birmingham. Hear history through the personal stories of someone who lived it, in the Smithfield community once known as “Dynamite Hill,” where Black families, including the Shores family, endured repeated bombings and intimidation as they challenged Birmingham’s system of segregation.


Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame

Discover Alabama’s rich and influential jazz legacy at the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame. Located in Birmingham’s historic Carver Theatre, the museum celebrates legendary Alabama musicians and explores the state’s important contributions to jazz history through exhibits, memorabilia, music, and stories of the artists who helped shape an American art form.


Day Three, December 3 - Birmingham - Selma - Montgomery

Sloss Furnaces National Historic Landmark

Step inside Birmingham’s industrial past at Sloss Furnaces, where iron was produced for nearly a century and helped fuel the city’s rapid growth. The preserved blast furnaces and industrial structures offer a fascinating look at the workers, technology, and iron industry that earned Birmingham its nickname, “The Magic City,” while providing important context for the city in which the Civil Rights Movement unfolded.

Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum 

Experience one of the world’s most remarkable collections of motorcycles and race cars at Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum. Set within the spectacular Barber Motorsports Park, the museum houses more than 1,800 motorcycles spanning over a century of design and innovation, along with an impressive collection of Lotus race cars. Even non-motorsports enthusiasts will appreciate the museum’s striking architecture, engineering, and beautifully displayed collection.


Selma

Edmund Pettus Bridge

Walk across one of the most iconic landmarks of the Civil Rights Movement. On March 7, 1965, peaceful voting rights marchers crossing the Edmund Pettus Bridge were brutally attacked by law enforcement on what became known as “Bloody Sunday.” Their courage, and the national response to the violence they endured, helped galvanize support for the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

The Lowndes County Interpretive Center

Explore the story of the Selma to Montgomery March and the struggle for voting rights in one of Alabama’s most significant Civil Rights Movement landscapes. Located along the historic march route, the Lowndes County Interpretive Center highlights the courage of local activists, the challenges faced by Black residents seeking the right to vote, and the people and communities whose grassroots efforts helped change the nation.


Day Four, December 4 - Montgomery

Dexter Avenue King Memorial Baptist Church 

Visit the historic church where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. served as pastor from 1954 to 1960 and emerged as a national leader of the Civil Rights Movement. Just steps from the Alabama State Capitol, Dexter Avenue King Memorial Baptist Church became an important center of organizing during the Montgomery Bus Boycott and offers a powerful connection to the people, faith, and activism that helped launch a movement.



Dexter Parsonage Museum

Step inside the home where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and his family lived during his years as pastor of Dexter Avenue Baptist Church. The parsonage offers an intimate look at the King family’s life in Montgomery, including the challenges they faced during the Montgomery Bus Boycott. Visitors can see the home that sheltered the family, survived a 1956 bombing, and witnessed a formative chapter in Dr. King’s life and leadership.




Harris House & Historic Montgomery Driving Tour

Visit the historic Harris House, which provided a safe haven for Freedom Riders during the turbulent days of 1961, and learn about the courage of the local people who opened their homes to activists facing violence and intimidation. Then travel through neighborhoods and landmarks connected to the Civil Rights Movement, gaining a deeper understanding of the people, communities, and events that shaped Montgomery’s pivotal role in American history.


Holt Street Baptist Church Experience

Experience the story of the Montgomery Bus Boycott at the site where thousands gathered for a mass meeting on December 5, 1955, just days after Rosa Parks’ arrest. Through immersive storytelling, the Holt Street Baptist Church Experience brings visitors into this pivotal moment, when a community came together to launch a 381-day boycott that would help transform the Civil Rights Movement.

Rosa Parks Museum

Experience the story that helped ignite the Montgomery Bus Boycott and a new chapter in the Civil Rights Movement. Located near the site of Rosa Parks’ historic 1955 arrest, the Rosa Parks Museum uses immersive exhibits and historic artifacts to explore her courageous act of resistance, the community that rallied behind her, and the 381-day boycott that helped change the nation.


Montgomery Square

Stand at the historic heart of downtown Montgomery, where layers of the city’s complex past come together. Once a center of the domestic slave trade and later a key setting in the Civil Rights Movement, the area surrounding Montgomery Square offers an important opportunity to examine the people, events, and contradictions that shaped the city, Alabama, and the nation.


Day Five, December 5 - Montgomery

The Legacy Museum

Explore the powerful connections between slavery, racial terror, segregation, and the continuing struggle for racial justice in America. Created by the Equal Justice Initiative, The Legacy Museum uses historical artifacts, firsthand accounts, art, and immersive exhibits to tell deeply human stories while examining how this history continues to shape our nation today.


National Memorial for Peace and Justice

Visit a profoundly moving memorial dedicated to the thousands of victims of racial terror lynching in the United States. Created by the Equal Justice Initiative, the National Memorial for Peace and Justice uses powerful sculpture, art, and more than 800 suspended steel monuments representing counties where lynchings occurred to confront this history, honor those whose lives were taken, and encourage reflection on the legacy of racial injustice in America.

Freedom Monument Sculpture Park

Experience an extraordinary 17-acre site along the Alabama River that brings the history of slavery and the journey toward freedom to life through art, history, and the landscape itself. Created by the Equal Justice Initiative, Freedom Monument Sculpture Park features powerful sculptures, historic structures, and immersive exhibits that honor the lives and resilience of millions of enslaved people while exploring their enduring legacy in America.


Questions? Contact Elaine Rodriguez at [email protected] or Song Stott at [email protected]. 


We thank our generous sponsors, Alabama Tourism, Greater Birmingham Convention & Visitor's Bureau, and Experience Montgomery Alabama.

Rate for Five day FAM tour (room by yourself) to include guided training tours, activities, entrance fees, four breakfasts, four lunches, and four dinners. Four hotel nights (12/1-12/4) included based on single occupancy. Drop off at BHM Birmingham-Shuttlesworth International Airport on Saturday, December 5, 2026, at 5:00 PM.

$672.00
$672.00
Price includes all taxes and fees. Price is per person and is based on double occupancy for the hotel nights unless otherwise selected.

Price includes guided training tours, activities, entrance fees, four hotel nights (double occupancy) four breakfasts, four lunches, four dinners. As with any tour, tips are recommended for the guide.

Cancellations prior to October 31, 2026 will receive a 50% refund. No refunds will be offered after October 31, 2026. IATDG must be notified via email to [email protected].

Tour itineraries, accommodations, activities, and schedules are subject to change due to weather conditions, local circumstances, or events and are outside of our control.

By accepting these terms and conditions, you consent to be photographed or filmed and grant NAI/IATDG the right to use your image in promotional materials, including the conference website, social media, and printed publications, without further notice or compensation. You waive any claims related to the use of your likeness in these materials.

Add Purchase Protection for a small fee and get a 100% refund of your event purchase if you're prevented from attending due to a qualifying unforeseen circumstance. See all that's covered.

Purchase Protection will give you a 100% refund should you encounter:

Sudden illness or injury
Death in the family
Transportation Failure
Employment Obligations
Acts of Nature
Crime & Home Emergency

Get a 100% refund of your original event purchase, including taxes and fees, if a qualifying unforeseen circumstance prevents you from attending. Certain exclusions apply. Not valid for events, attendees, or travel outside the USA. Purchase Protection is not insurance and is charged separately. Read full terms and conditions.

RegFox Event Registration Software
Event Registration Software by RegFox