A Legacy Written in Stone, Steel, and Spirit
For more than two centuries, as America rose brick by brick, one Black family made sure we were never erased from the history. The story of McKissack & McKissack is not simply a business chronicle—it is a living testament to Black ingenuity, economic self-determination, and generational excellence passed hand to hand, mind to mind.
From the skilled hands of an enslaved African master builder to the boardrooms and construction sites led by Black Americans shaping the country’s most visible landmarks, the McKissack legacy reminds us of a fundamental truth: when we were denied access to power, we learned how to build it ourselves.
This is not history frozen in time.
This is inheritance.
From Ashanti Shores to Tennessee Clay
The McKissack story begins with Moses McKissack I (1790–1865), a man of the Ashanti people of West Africa, forcibly brought to American shores. Though enslaved, Moses carried with him something no chain could hold—ancestral knowledge of architecture, geometry, and material mastery rooted in African civilization.
Sold to a builder in North Carolina, Moses learned European brickmaking and masonry techniques, transforming survival labor into professional excellence. By 1834, the family had moved to Maury County, Tennessee, where Moses established a brickyard in Spring Hill. There, he laid foundations for homes, institutions, and something far greater: a family creed.
Among the McKissacks, skill was not just trade—it was freedom. Each brick carried purpose. Each lesson passed to the next generation became a quiet act of resistance.
Building Past the Barriers
By the early 20th century, the McKissacks were ready to move from brick yards to drafting tables. Moses McKissack III and his brother Calvin Lunsford McKissack entered a profession that had no intention of welcoming Black men. White universities barred their entry. Licensing systems were designed to exclude.
Their response was brilliance.
Denied traditional pathways, the brothers enrolled in the International Correspondence School of Scranton, Pennsylvania, earning architectural degrees through distance learning—literally building their future through the mail. In 1905, Moses III opened his architectural practice in Nashville.
When Tennessee introduced professional licensing laws in 1921, the state board attempted to block them. The brothers responded not with protest, but proof: years of completed projects, academic credentials, and undeniable competence. In 1922, they became the first licensed Black architects in Tennessee.
They didn’t just break a ceiling.
They forced the door open.
Builders of Black Institutions
The McKissack firm understood something deeply strategic: for Black communities to thrive, we needed institutions that reflected dignity, permanence, and power. Their work became the physical backbone of Black civic life in the Jim Crow South.
They served as primary architects for the National Baptist Convention, the largest Black religious organization in the world. Their buildings were not merely functional—they were declarations.
The Morris Memorial Building in Nashville, completed in 1924, stood as a neoclassical stronghold of Black publishing and commerce. Clad in cream terra cotta, it housed the National Baptist Publishing Board—a fortress of Black intellectual property at a time when such visibility was considered defiance.
These weren’t just buildings.
They were statements that said: We are here, and we are built to last.
The $5.7 Million Test
In 1942, the McKissacks faced a defining moment. The U.S. government awarded them a $5.7 million contract—the largest federal project ever given to a Black firm—to construct the Tuskegee Army Airfield in Alabama.
The stakes were enormous. Failure would not be personal; it would be weaponized against every Black firm in America. White contractors watched closely, expecting collapse.
Instead, the McKissacks delivered.
They transformed Alabama swampland into a fully operational military airfield on schedule, building the runways where the Tuskegee Airmen would train and make history. With that project, the McKissacks dismantled one of the most persistent lies of the era: that Black firms were incapable of managing large-scale industrial work.
They didn’t just build an airfield.
They rewrote expectations.
When Black Women Took the Helm
In 1983, the firm faced another moment of reckoning when William DeBerry McKissack suffered a debilitating stroke. Industry insiders assumed the company would fade away.
Instead, Leatrice Buchanan McKissack stepped forward.
With a background in psychology and education—not architecture—she became the firm’s guardian and strategist. Under her leadership, McKissack & McKissack modernized, expanded, and took on projects of profound cultural weight, including construction management for the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis at the historic Lorraine Motel.
It was poetic justice: a family that had built through centuries of oppression now helping preserve the site that marked a turning point in Black liberation. Leatrice proved that the McKissack legacy wasn’t just technical—it was visionary.
A Modern Empire, Multiplied
Today, the legacy is carried forward by fifth-generation Chair, Cheryl McKissack Daniel, a leader forged from childhood on construction sites and drafting tables.
Groomed by her mother, Ms. McKissack Daniel now leads the legacy firm established in 1905, as its sole owner, overseeing more than 50 billion dollars in construction value in the past decade alone. From the redevelopment of JFK Airport’s Terminal One to major MTA infrastructure upgrades, her influence is embedded in the future of New York’s built environment. Equally important she has made a MWBE participation a non-negotiable priority
Harlem: Building With Cultural Responsibility
In Harlem, McKissack’s work reflects something deeper than development—it reflects stewardship.
At Harlem Hospital Center, the firm managed the careful preservation and relocation of historic WPA murals by Charles Alston and Vertis Hayes, ensuring that depictions of Black medical history and the African Diaspora remained visible to the community. Today, those murals are protected behind glass, greeting everyone who walks Lenox Avenue.
At the Studio Museum in Harlem, McKissack ensured record-breaking MWBE participation, proving that building Black cultural institutions must also build Black economic power.
This is HarlemAmerica values made concrete.
From Blueprint to Book: Preserving the Legacy in Print
As the McKissack legacy continues to rise in steel, glass and concrete, it is now being preserved in another enduring form – literature.
In her book, The Black Family Who Built America, McKissack Daniel extends the family’s blueprint beyond physical structures and into narrative permanence. The book is not simply a memoir, it is a reclamation of history, a documentation of lineage and a powerful affirmation that Black builders have always been central to America’s foundation.
Through deeply personal reflection and historical insight, Cheryl traces the journey from Moses McKissack I to the present day, illuminating the discipline, sacrifice excellence that sustained a family across generations. It is both an intimate account and a national story – one that challenges omissions in mainstream narratives and re-centers Black craftmanship, leadership and ownership.
Where previous generations built with brick and mortar, Cheryl builds with words, ensuring that the legacy in not only seen, but understood.
This is more than storytelling, It is authorship as preservation. It is legacy documented.
A Blueprint That Endures
The McKissack legacy reminds us that Black history is not confined to museums—it is embedded in airports, hospitals, churches, and neighborhoods. Their work stands as proof that when excellence meets intention, what we build can outlive oppression.
From New York and beyond, the McKissacks have shown us how to turn skill into sovereignty and vision into permanence.
This is our blueprint.
Solid. Enduring. Forever rising.
This Month’s Featured Articles
FeaturedHarlemBusinessHarlemHistory
Discover the 200-year legacy of McKissack & McKissack and how one Black family built excellence, equity, and generational power across America.
African and African American models are redefining global fashion power in 2026, leading runways, campaigns, and cultural change across the industry.
Black History Month 2026 FeatureFeaturedHarlemEntertainmentHarlemHistory
HarlemAmerica launches the HarlemAmerica Originals Channel with its inaugural Black History Month 2026 series, Wait… A Black Person Invented That?!, spotlighting Black innovators who shaped modern life.
A Legacy Written in Stone, Steel, and Spirit
For more than two centuries, as America rose brick by brick, one Black family made sure we were never erased from the history. The story of McKissack & McKissack is not simply a business chronicle—it is a living testament to Black ingenuity, economic self-determination, and generational excellence passed hand to hand, mind to mind.
From the skilled hands of an enslaved African master builder to the boardrooms and construction sites led by Black Americans shaping the country’s most visible landmarks, the McKissack legacy reminds us of a fundamental truth: when we were denied access to power, we learned how to build it ourselves.
This is not history frozen in time.
This is inheritance.
From Ashanti Shores to Tennessee Clay
The McKissack story begins with Moses McKissack I (1790–1865), a man of the Ashanti people of West Africa, forcibly brought to American shores. Though enslaved, Moses carried with him something no chain could hold—ancestral knowledge of architecture, geometry, and material mastery rooted in African civilization.
Sold to a builder in North Carolina, Moses learned European brickmaking and masonry techniques, transforming survival labor into professional excellence. By 1834, the family had moved to Maury County, Tennessee, where Moses established a brickyard in Spring Hill. There, he laid foundations for homes, institutions, and something far greater: a family creed.
Among the McKissacks, skill was not just trade—it was freedom. Each brick carried purpose. Each lesson passed to the next generation became a quiet act of resistance.
Building Past the Barriers
By the early 20th century, the McKissacks were ready to move from brick yards to drafting tables. Moses McKissack III and his brother Calvin Lunsford McKissack entered a profession that had no intention of welcoming Black men. White universities barred their entry. Licensing systems were designed to exclude.
Their response was brilliance.
Denied traditional pathways, the brothers enrolled in the International Correspondence School of Scranton, Pennsylvania, earning architectural degrees through distance learning—literally building their future through the mail. In 1905, Moses III opened his architectural practice in Nashville.
When Tennessee introduced professional licensing laws in 1921, the state board attempted to block them. The brothers responded not with protest, but proof: years of completed projects, academic credentials, and undeniable competence. In 1922, they became the first licensed Black architects in Tennessee.
They didn’t just break a ceiling.
They forced the door open.
Builders of Black Institutions
The McKissack firm understood something deeply strategic: for Black communities to thrive, we needed institutions that reflected dignity, permanence, and power. Their work became the physical backbone of Black civic life in the Jim Crow South.
They served as primary architects for the National Baptist Convention, the largest Black religious organization in the world. Their buildings were not merely functional—they were declarations.
The Morris Memorial Building in Nashville, completed in 1924, stood as a neoclassical stronghold of Black publishing and commerce. Clad in cream terra cotta, it housed the National Baptist Publishing Board—a fortress of Black intellectual property at a time when such visibility was considered defiance.
These weren’t just buildings.
They were statements that said: We are here, and we are built to last.
The $5.7 Million Test
In 1942, the McKissacks faced a defining moment. The U.S. government awarded them a $5.7 million contract—the largest federal project ever given to a Black firm—to construct the Tuskegee Army Airfield in Alabama.
The stakes were enormous. Failure would not be personal; it would be weaponized against every Black firm in America. White contractors watched closely, expecting collapse.
Instead, the McKissacks delivered.
They transformed Alabama swampland into a fully operational military airfield on schedule, building the runways where the Tuskegee Airmen would train and make history. With that project, the McKissacks dismantled one of the most persistent lies of the era: that Black firms were incapable of managing large-scale industrial work.
They didn’t just build an airfield.
They rewrote expectations.
When Black Women Took the Helm
In 1983, the firm faced another moment of reckoning when William DeBerry McKissack suffered a debilitating stroke. Industry insiders assumed the company would fade away.
Instead, Leatrice Buchanan McKissack stepped forward.
With a background in psychology and education—not architecture—she became the firm’s guardian and strategist. Under her leadership, McKissack & McKissack modernized, expanded, and took on projects of profound cultural weight, including construction management for the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis at the historic Lorraine Motel.
It was poetic justice: a family that had built through centuries of oppression now helping preserve the site that marked a turning point in Black liberation. Leatrice proved that the McKissack legacy wasn’t just technical—it was visionary.
A Modern Empire, Multiplied
Today, the legacy is carried forward by fifth-generation Chair, Cheryl McKissack Daniel, a leader forged from childhood on construction sites and drafting tables.
Groomed by her mother, Ms. McKissack Daniel now leads the legacy firm established in 1905, as its sole owner, overseeing more than 50 billion dollars in construction value in the past decade alone. From the redevelopment of JFK Airport’s Terminal One to major MTA infrastructure upgrades, her influence is embedded in the future of New York’s built environment. Equally important she has made a MWBE participation a non-negotiable priority
Harlem: Building With Cultural Responsibility
In Harlem, McKissack’s work reflects something deeper than development—it reflects stewardship.
At Harlem Hospital Center, the firm managed the careful preservation and relocation of historic WPA murals by Charles Alston and Vertis Hayes, ensuring that depictions of Black medical history and the African Diaspora remained visible to the community. Today, those murals are protected behind glass, greeting everyone who walks Lenox Avenue.
At the Studio Museum in Harlem, McKissack ensured record-breaking MWBE participation, proving that building Black cultural institutions must also build Black economic power.
This is HarlemAmerica values made concrete.
From Blueprint to Book: Preserving the Legacy in Print
As the McKissack legacy continues to rise in steel, glass and concrete, it is now being preserved in another enduring form – literature.
In her book, The Black Family Who Built America, McKissack Daniel extends the family’s blueprint beyond physical structures and into narrative permanence. The book is not simply a memoir, it is a reclamation of history, a documentation of lineage and a powerful affirmation that Black builders have always been central to America’s foundation.
Through deeply personal reflection and historical insight, Cheryl traces the journey from Moses McKissack I to the present day, illuminating the discipline, sacrifice excellence that sustained a family across generations. It is both an intimate account and a national story – one that challenges omissions in mainstream narratives and re-centers Black craftmanship, leadership and ownership.
Where previous generations built with brick and mortar, Cheryl builds with words, ensuring that the legacy in not only seen, but understood.
This is more than storytelling, It is authorship as preservation. It is legacy documented.
A Blueprint That Endures
The McKissack legacy reminds us that Black history is not confined to museums—it is embedded in airports, hospitals, churches, and neighborhoods. Their work stands as proof that when excellence meets intention, what we build can outlive oppression.
From New York and beyond, the McKissacks have shown us how to turn skill into sovereignty and vision into permanence.
This is our blueprint.
Solid. Enduring. Forever rising.
This Month’s Featured Articles
FeaturedHarlemBusinessHarlemHistory
Discover the 200-year legacy of McKissack & McKissack and how one Black family built excellence, equity, and generational power across America.
African and African American models are redefining global fashion power in 2026, leading runways, campaigns, and cultural change across the industry.
Black History Month 2026 FeatureFeaturedHarlemEntertainmentHarlemHistory
HarlemAmerica launches the HarlemAmerica Originals Channel with its inaugural Black History Month 2026 series, Wait… A Black Person Invented That?!, spotlighting Black innovators who shaped modern life.
