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McKissack & McKissack is a national architectural, engineering, and construction management firm with 27 years of experience.

Deryl McKissack, founder and CEO of McKissack & McKissack, is the fifth generation of her family to work in design and construction.

Her company is a continuation of the nation’s oldest African American design and construction firm and traces its beginnings to Moses McKissack.

Moses was brought to the United States from West Africa in 1790 as an enslaved person and learned the building trade while working as a brickmaker at a construction company.

He eventually received his freedom, started a family, and taught his son, Gabriel Moses II, the construction business. Moses II later became a famous craftsman and aided local firms with architectural drawings, design, and construction.

Moses II’s son, Moses III, also got his start in the construction business, founding the McKissack Company in 1905 and operating it with his brother, Calvin. They became the first licensed Black architects in the Southeastern United States and designed many of the historically Black colleges and universities in the region.

In 1990, with a shoestring budget of $1,000, Deryl started McKissack & McKissack. Today, the firm is working on over $15 billion in projects nationwide.

We caught up with her to find out more about the new generation carrying on this legacy.

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