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McKissack & McKissack is an American design and construction firm headquartered in New York City, N.Y. and offices in Harlem, N.Y. and Philadelphia, PA. A family-owned business for more than 116+ years, it is the oldest minority/women-owned professional design and construction company in the United States.

The firm was founded in 1905 in Nashville, Tennessee by Moses McKissack III and his youngest brother Calvin (third generation), the grandsons of a slave who had been brought to the United States from West Africa, who had learned to trade of making bricks for construction projects.

Highlights of the firm’s early projects include the Fisk University Carnegie Library in Nashville; and the $5.7 million federal contract in 1942 to design and build the 99th pursuit Squadron Air Base at Tuskegee Alabama – the largest United States contract ever given to a firm of African descent at the time.

Today, the firm is led by fifth generation President and CEO Cheryl McKissack Daniel, who in 2000, re-established McKissack & McKissack as the sole owner of the family business founded in 1905. Proudly upholding the standards of excellence established by its forefathers, she continues the leadership of the family’s legacy in planning, design, and construction of more than 6,000 projects.

McKissack & McKissack provides construction management, program management and diversity & inclusion consulting services for various project types throughout the East Coast and the United States. The company’s high profile projects include the New Terminal One at JFK International Airport; LGA Central Terminal Building Redevelopment; Coney Island Hospital Campus Renovation; Harlem Hospital Center Modernization; NYC Economic Development Corporation Hunts Point Cooperative Market, Fulton Fish Market, and MART125 Cultural Center projects; Atlantic Yards (Pacific Park) LIRR Vanderbilt Yard Relocation; Columbia University Manhattanville Expansion; Henry J. Carter Specialty Hospital & Skilled Nursing Skilled Nursing Facility and The Studio Museum in Harlem. McKissack & McKissack also serves as the MTA Independent Engineer Consultant overseeing the Capital Construction Program of the nation’s largest transportation system.

In 2019, McKissack & McKissack was among Black Enterprise’s BE100s List, as one of the Nation’s Largest Black Businesses.

History
McKissack & McKissack was founded by brothers Moses McKissack III (May 8, 1879 – December 12, 1952) and Calvin Lunsford McKissack (February 23, 1890 – March 2, 1968), natives of Pulaski, Tennessee. Their father (Moses McKissack II) and grandfather (Moses McKissack) were trained builders.

Moses McKissack, who was captured in West Africa, was sold into slavery to one of America’s first contractors, a white man named William McKissack of Charlotte, North Carolina. When the McKissack family re-located to Springhill, Tennessee in 1834, Moses was one of the enslaved men they had trained to make bricks for their construction projects. The McKissack family’s records indicate that the slave owner eventually granted Moses his freedom and supported his independence which allowed him to sell his bricks.

Establishment of partnership
Moses II’s son (Moses III), took his father’s trade a step further, becoming a master carpenter. He ventured out to build spiral staircases and is renowned for his gingerbread finishes on the Maxwell House Hotel in Nashville, Tennessee.

Moses III entered the architecture trade by working as an apprentice to a builder in Pulaski who hired him in 1890 to assist with architectural designs, drawings and construction work. His formal education was obtained at the Pulaski Colored High School. Moses II youngest son, Calvin McKissack, was educated at Barrows School in Springfield, Massachusetts, and Fisk University in Nashville, which he attended from 1905 to 1909.

In 1905, the third generation emerged, when Moses III and Calvin joined forces to formalize McKissack & McKissack into a construction firm.

Having been in business for more than 15+ years prior and achieving much recognition as master carpenters, the state of Tennessee instituted a law requiring all builders to acquire licenses to practice architecture in 1921 – an intentional effort to end their earned business success. In preparation, they completed an MIT correspondence course in architecture.

After facing many hurdles, including having to petition to take their exams and being denied countless times over because they were of African descent, the brothers eventually convinced a state board member to speak out on their behalf so that they were allowed to take the exam. Although, they were expected to fail, Moses III and Calvin took the exam and passed on their very first attempt. Yet the battle ensued because even after passing, the were still denied their licenses. Multiple appeals later, Moses III and Calvin were finally granted licenses 117 and 118 in the State of Tennessee—the first black men to achieve such a feat.

Despite the challenges and obstacles others placed before them, this 1922 historical victory opened the door for the brothers to obtain licenses in 22 additional states, all as a result from their shared mutual determination to succeed at all costs.

Highlights of the firm’s early projects include the Carnegie Library at Fisk University in Nashville; Pearl High School (and two subsequent expansions), also in Nashville; and a $5.7 million federal contract in 1942 to design and build the Tuskegee Airfield.

In 1968, William DeBerry McKissack inherited the business as fourth generation, from his father Moses III. DeBerry made his mark securing a contract with Meharry Medical School and built 9 out of 10 of its existing buildings. He ran McKissack until illness forced him to retire in 1983, whereby his wife, Leatrice Buchanan, assumed his duties as CEO. Despite having no training in architecture, she stepped in and managed to grow the business even more. Under her leadership, the firm won major contracts for new buildings and renovations at the Fisk University, Tennessee State University and Meharry Medical College campuses in Nashville, as well as a $50 million renovation project for Howard University in Washington, D.C., and design of the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis.[3][13]

Leatrice’s honors include being named National Female Entrepreneur of the Year by President George H.W. Bush in 1990 and receiving the Presidential Design Award for President Bill Clinton in 1994. Leatrice ran McKissack until 2000, having groomed and passing over the reins to her daughter Cheryl.

Early projects
As of 1975 McKissack & McKissack had completed over 3,000 building projects, including about 2,000 churches.[2] Several buildings designed by Moses McKissack, Calvin McKissack, or the McKissack & McKissack firm are listed on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP).[2][18] Among the firm's notable buildings are:
 * A.M.E. Publishing House, Eighth Avenue South, Nashville. Art Deco; demolished in the 1970s.
 * Bastian residence, 3722 Central Avenue, Nashville. 1921.
 * Bridgeforth High School, 1095 Bledsoe Rd. Pulaski, Tennessee. NRHP-listed.
 * Cameron School, 1034 First Ave. S Nashville, Tennessee. NRHP-listed.
 * Capers C.M.E. Church, 319 15th Ave., N. Nashville, Tennessee. Completed in 1925. NRHP-listed.
 * Carnegie Library, 17th Ave. N., Fisk University campus, Nashville. 1908. NRHP-listed.
 * C.M.E. Publishing House, Jackson, Tennessee. 1931. Art Deco; demolished in the 1970s.
 * Comer residence, 1411 Eastland Avenue, Nashville. 1920.
 * D. R. Glass Library at Texas College, 2404 N. Grand Ave. Tyler, Texas. NRHP-listed.
 * House residence, 340 Chesterfield, Nashville. 1919.
 * George Hubbard House, 1109 First Avenue South, Nashville. Colonial Revival, built in 1920. NRHP-listed.
 * Morris Memorial Building, 330 Charlotte Ave., Nashville, Tennessee. Completed in 1925. NRHP-listed.
 * Pearl High School, 613 17th Ave. N, Nashville, Tennessee. NRHP-listed.
 * National Civil Rights Museum, Memphis.
 * President's House at Texas College, 2404 N. Grand Ave., Tyler, Texas. NRHP-listed.
 * Sexton residence, 3506 Byron Avenue, Nashville. 1921.
 * St. John's Baptist Church, 1328 N.W. 3rd Ave., Miami, Florida. NRHP-listed.
 * Taborian Hospital, US 61, jct. of McGinnis St., Mound Bayou, Mississippi. NRHP-listed.
 * Universal Life Insurance Company, 480 Linden Ave., Memphis, Tennessee. NRHP-listed.

National expansion and move from Nashville
Cheryl McKissack represents the fifth generation President and CEO heading the family’s original century old business, McKissack & McKissack, headquartered in New York, New York. In 1995, the company expanded and opened a satellite office in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

In the late 1980s, Leatrice McKissack called upon Cheryl, one of three daughters between she and William DeBerry William, to join the firm in an official capacity. As a result of the ongoing work for the family firm and flying back and forth from New York to Nashville, Cheryl opened an office of McKissack & McKissack closer to her home in New York City in 1990. From there she grew the business, which now focuses on construction management and has left architecture behind. [familybusinessmagazine.com]

In 1991, she formed The McKissack Group Inc. dba McKissack & McKissack (McKissack), a full-service construction management firm based in New York City. In 1999, she launched McKissack and McKissack Associates, an architecture and design company. However, McKissack and McKissack Associates was officially dissolved in [insert date].

In 2000, McKissack Daniel re-established McKissack as the sole owner of the family business founded in 1905. With her leadership, their construction and design firm has been making a mark on some of the major landmarks in the nation.

Projects/works
McKissack is involved with some of New York’s largest projects including serving as the MTA’s Independent Engineer Consultant since 2009 overseeing the Capital Construction Program $50+B (current) of the nation’s largest transportation system. McKissack’s other notable large projects include:
 * New Terminal One at JFK International Airport
 * Coney Island Hospital Campus Renovation
 * Harlem Hospital Center Modernization
 * Atlantic Yards (Pacific Park) LIRR Vanderbilt Yard Relocation
 * Columbia University Manhattanville Campus Expansion
 * Henry J. Carter Specialty Hospital & Skilled Nursing Skilled Nursing Facility
 * The Studio Museum in Harlem
 * Medgar Evers College, School of Science Health and Technology
 * LGA Central Terminal Building Redevelopment

McKissack Daniel credits the company’s success, even in New York where it is now headquartered, to affirmative action. She said, “People do business with people who look like them. All the work that we’ve done outside of New York, it didn’t matter in New York.” She said she always makes it a point to prioritize hiring minorities for her company. McKissack’s workforce has consistently been more than 50% minorities and women. She also developed a job training workforce program to those who they couldn’t hire anymore.