The Black Family Who Built America

The McKissacks, Two Centuries of Daring Pioneers

Cheryl McKissack Daniel, Nick Chiles

• Publisher: Atria/Black Privilege Publishing
• Year: 2025
• eBook ISBN:
  9781668034019
• Topic: Architecture
• Subtopic: History of Architecture

A Scientific American Favorite Book of 2025

The riveting story of the McKissack family—the founders of the leading Black design and construction firm in the United States, from its beginnings in the mid-1800s to its thriving status today—in a moving celebration of resilience and innovation.

Captured in his native West Africa and enslaved on American shores by a North Carolina plantation owner, Moses McKissack I began to build his way to emancipation right from the start. Becoming an enslaved craftsman, he picked up the trade his family would become famous for in the earliest years of the 19th century, passing his learnings down to his children and seeing them off to freedom after the Civil War.

The family would settle in Tennessee, getting its bearings in the building trades despite rampant discrimination, establishing a foothold that now sees its latest generations working at the absolute peak of its industry.

The family’s fingerprints have been left all across the United States, spanning from Reconstruction to contemporary times, through projects like the Morris Memorial Building, Capers C.M.E. Church, John F. Kennedy International Airport, and Philadelphia’s Lincoln Financial Field.

Here, Cheryl McKissack Daniel, CEO and president of McKissack & McKissack, reveals the full fascinating story of her family. So much more than an exploration of architectural achievements, The Black Family Who Built America is also a compelling illustration of how history rhymes and reverberates, and a celebration of the human spirit’s ability to overcome adversity and drive change. From Moses’s humble beginnings to Cheryl’s current role as a trailblazer and champion of diversity, the family’s journey underscores the importance of perseverance, innovation, and strategic vision in shaping a legacy that continues to inspire and impact the construction industry.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Dedication
• Prologue
• Chapter 1: McKissack & McKissack
• Chapter 2: Two in a Million
• Chapter 3: Hollywood to Tennessee
• Chapter 4: Too Big to Be Small
• Chapter 5: 1929 and Back
• Chapter 6: “I Ain’t Going into the Black Bathroom”
• Chapter 7: “Financial Clearance”
• Chapter 8: “It’s Like We’re in Heaven”
• Chapter 9: What It Takes
• Chapter 10: Family Business
• Chapter 11: Sisterly Love
• Chapter 12: The Right Kind of Monument
• Chapter 13: I’m a Survivor
• Chapter 14: Strange Bedfellows
• Chapter 15: A Whole New Ballgame
• Chapter 16: Back to School
• Acknowledgments
• About the Author
• Notes
• Index
• Copyright