Dr. Martha Bouyer serves as the Executive Director of the Historic Bethel Baptist Church Community Restoration Fund in Birmingham, Alabama. Martha also serves as the Tourism Consultant for the Alabama African American Civil Rights Historic Sties Consortium and the Alabama Civil Rights Tourism Association representing 20 sites. Martha is the recipient of the Alabama Tourism Director’s Award for 2020.
Martha is an award-winning educator, administrator, and curriculum developer whose passion for teaching has taken her around the world and brought teachers from around the world to Birmingham to work with her.
Her interactive and engaging tours create a space for dialogue designed to expand knowledge of the Modern Civil Rights Movement. Martha’s ability to combine history with heritage tourism is nothing short of phenomenal! She is a gifted teacher, workshop presenter, and travel expert.
Dr. Bouyer is the principal of Out of The Box, which creates interactive field studies, travel experiences, workshops and curricula for varied clientele including the National Park Service, Birmingham Civil Rights Institute, and TPT Minnesota Public TV. Martha also served as the lead consultant for the teacher training workshop for the Pulitzer Prize winning, “Slavery by Another Name”.
Martha has studied at some of the world’s most esteemed institutions including, UCLA, Cambridge University in the United Kingdom, and Harvard University. Her work has received financial support from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), The National Park Service, The Alabama Humanities Foundation, The United States Department of Education, and the Center for Civic Education. Additionally, she has been featured in numerous travel magazines such as Spirit of America, and educational publications that include the Gilder-Lehrman Institute’s History Now, The Birmingham Civil Rights’ Institute Curriculum Guide, About Learning, Pro Teacher, and Harvard’s Reading, Writing, and Civic Education Curriculum Guide.
Martha’s premier educational tourism program is “Stony the Road We Trod . . .” Alabama’s Role in the Modern Civil Rights Movement. In 2018 and 2019, “Stony . . .” was funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) as a three-week National Teacher Institute. “Stony . . .” will again be offered by the NEH as a three-week National Teacher Institute in 2021. Martha has conducted Civil Rights Field Studies for Del Norte, CA School District Teaching American History Grant (TAH); Elk Grove, CA, TAH; Washington County Schools TAH; Houston City Schools TAH; Savannah City Schools TAH; Durham City Schools TAH; North Humboldt TAH; Windham Southeast Supervisory Union TAH; Virginia Beach City Schools TAH; Presenter for 5 NCATT Civil Rights Field Studies, and the DC National Geographic Alliance.
