Short Takeaways:
- Shane Carter brings 13 years of experience leading a historic community center in Ohio.
- TKAAM will move to a 22,000-sq.-ft. downtown Wichita space, doubling its size and accessibility.
- A Dockum Sit-In immersive exhibit will anchor the new museum when it opens.
When Shane Carter arrived in Wichita this summer to begin his tenure as executive director of The Kansas African American Museum (TKAAM), he was struck by how quickly the city began to feel like home.
“Within my first 90 days, I realized Wichita is a big-small city,” he said. “People know each other. There’s history everywhere. That feels like home to me.”
For Carter, 38, this move represents both a professional milestone and a personal calling. He succeeds longtime director Denise Sherman, who led TKAAM through the ambitious purchase of a downtown building at 201 N. Main and a successful capital campaign that positioned the museum for a new chapter.
Carter’s task now is both exciting and daunting: to guide the museum into a larger, more accessible space while keeping it financially strong and deeply rooted in community engagement.
From Troy, Ohio, to Wichita
Carter grew up in Troy, OH, a town of about 30,000 just north of Dayton. The region’s history runs deep: Troy was an important stop on the Underground Railroad, drawing abolitionist Quakers and formerly enslaved African Americans seeking opportunity.
“That history shaped me,” Carter said. “It’s similar to Kansas with the Exodusters and Buffalo Soldiers — a story of people moving forward, fighting for opportunity.”
His mother and his late father were defining influencers in his life. His dad, a commercial construction superintendent, worked across the country, often away from home for weeks at a time, building major projects like Chicago’s Sears Tower. But he was also a union steward who fought fiercely for equal pay and fair treatment of Black, Latino, and immigrant workers. Union meetings often took place in the Carter family home, where his mother would prepare large meals and his father would rally workers from different backgrounds.
That experience gave Carter an early understanding of how to bring diverse people together and instilled in him a clear sense of what leadership demands: courage, sacrifice, and the ability to build consensus across differences.
Carter also comes from an athletic family. Half-brother Butch Carter played in the NBA; and brother Cris Carter is a Hall-of-Fame NFL receiver. Shane himself played football at the University of Wisconsin. But rather than pursuing professional sports, Carter said “part of my calling and what the Lord asked me to do is to plug into my community.”
He’s been coaching football, building up community interest, and focusing on voter rights awareness and activism, and being a vehicle to create social, economic growth for our people.
Building Community in Ohio
Carter’s most recent role before Wichita was as director of the Lincoln Community Center in Troy, a historically Black institution with roots dating back to 1865. The historic center has served Troy’s Black community first as a school in the 1860s and as a community center since 1916.
When Carter took over, the center was in need of renewal. He spearheaded a major expansion that turned the building into a state-of-the-art facility. Against the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic, he pushed forward with construction, ensuring the building could open by the end of 2020.
“The governor had shut the state down, but we made the gutsy call to keep moving,” Carter said. “By December, we had occupancy. That allowed us to become a regional community hub during COVID.”
The center provided daily meals, hosted remote learning programs, and became a trusted site for vaccinations and health education. “It provided a platform for our organization to be relied upon throughout COVID.” Carter said.
Carter also operated his own contracting and construction management company that completed residential and commercial construction and remodeling.
Family & Welcoming
His wife and young daughter recently joined him in Kansas. They often spend Sundays driving around the city, getting to know landmarks and neighborhoods. “We’ve felt welcomed here,” Carter said. “People have embraced us, and that means a lot.”
The reception from Wichita’s Black community helped seal their move. He points to early conversations with civic leaders and museum board chair C. Edward Watson as critical. “I felt welcomed and wanted,” he says. “That mattered.”
It mattered to the board, too. When TKAAM announced Carter’s hiring in May 2025, Watson cited his “knowledge, enthusiasm, and experience with programming for diverse age groups, fundraising, and community engagement.” Carter, in turn, said he was drawn by the board’s bold vision for a museum that is both a cultural tourism anchor and a hometown gathering place — onsite and online.
A Museum on the Move
Carter steps into leadership at a pivotal moment. For decades, TKAAM has operated inside the historic Calvary Baptist Church at 601 N. Water. The building carries profound significance: it was a hub of Black religious and civic life, but it is also hemmed in by the county jail and plagued by accessibility and parking challenges.
Under Sherman’s leadership, the museum purchased a 22,000-sq.-ft. building downtown and raised funds for renovation. The move promises better parking, modern accessibility, and space for expanded archives and traveling exhibits.
“We’ll finally be able to preserve our collections properly and show more of our history,” Carter said.
So far, renovation crews have cleared out the interior, and now Carter faces crucial decisions about what stories the new museum will tell.
A Centerpiece Story: The Dockum Sit-In
One permanent exhibit is already announced — and it will be the museum’s heartbeat: an immersive experience dedicated to the 1958 Dockum Drug Store Sit-In. Organized by the Wichita NAACP Youth Council, Black students staged a disciplined, weeks-long protest at the downtown lunch counter until it integrated. It stands as the first successful student-led sit-in in the nation.
“It still blows my mind that Dockum didn’t get the national attention it deserved,” Carter says. “We’re going to change that.”
A $250,000 gift from Bank of America Wichita will make the bank the presenting sponsor of the Dockum experience. Architects are working now on designs that lean into interactivity — possibly placing the visitor on the stool, hearing the waiter’s refusal to serve them, feeling the tension of the crowd and the resolve of the students.
“We want people traveling through Kansas to think: I have to see Dockum,” Carter says.
Two more anchor exhibits are planned: a refreshed “From Africa to Kansas” gallery and a permanent, interactive Trailblazers exhibit that lets visitors explore honorees’ biographies and contributions across time.
Expanding Access & Outreach
Early signals are promising. TKAAM saw a surge of first-time visitors during this summer’s Sunflower Summer program, which offered once-per-destination free admission for Kansas families to select Kansas tourist sites. Saturdays were particularly busy, with lots of travelers visiting from Kansas City, Tulsa, and even Oklahoma City.
The museum also took learning beyond the building, delivering programs to daycares and welcoming groups for scavenger hunts and kid-friendly gallery introductions.
“Again and again we heard, ‘I never knew you were here,’” Carter says. “That’s what we want to change.”
Partnerships will be key. The museum is building a close relationship with Gordon Parks Academy, hosting field trips and family nights. Carter also wants to expand beyond the museum’s two signature events: Taste of Africa and the Trailblazers Awards, though he emphasizes their importance.
Trailblazers 2025 is set for Nov. 15 at Exploration Place, and he is actively seeking sponsorships.
The museum’s monthly newsletter, “We Are Culture,” has been revived and is going out regularly. “It’s one more way to stay connected.with the museum,” Carter said.
He encourages community members to sign up for the newsletter through the museum’s website or follow TKAAM on Facebook.
Challenges Ahead
Even as Carter looks ahead with optimism, he is realistic about challenges. Across the country, museums are facing funding pressures, especially in a climate where diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives have become politically charged.
“My White mother reminds me that we’re in a time we haven’t seen since the 1960s,” Carter said. “We have to be prepared.”
Maintaining operational revenue will be just as important as completing the new museum’s build-out. Carter credits Sherman for securing the building and raising capital funds, but notes that costs continue to rise.
“We’ll need ongoing support from donors, corporations, and members to keep this institution strong,” he said.
At the same time, he is committed to celebrating the museum’s present home. “The Calvary Baptist Church building is historic and sacred,” he said. “We don’t want people to only look forward. We want them to come and celebrate the history we have here now.”
A Vision for the Future
For Carter, TKAAM’s next chapter is about creating a true cultural hub — one that blends history with innovation, accessibility with affordability, and scholarship with community connection.
“We want immersive, interactive exhibits that appeal to kids, parents, and grandparents alike,” he said. “We want families to come back, not just once, but many times. And we want people across Kansas to know that African American history is Kansas history.”
It’s a big vision, but Carter’s background in community building, his entrepreneurial drive, and his faith give him confidence. “This is more than a job,” he said. “It’s a calling.”
