Architecture and construction are very white male dominated careers. But Cheryl McKissack is a Black woman in the business and she’s doing amazing!
Jacque Reid goes Inside Her Story with Ms. McKissack who comes from a long line of people in the construction business.
The McKissack’s 5-generation legacy in construction goes back to 1790 when the first McKissack was broguht to the United States by an Irish contractor. While enslaved he was taught how to make bricks, he then passed it down to his son who had two sons named Moses and Calvin. Moses and Calvin became the first licensed Black architects in America.
As a child McKissack spent her Saturdays walking construction sites and it was instilled in her at a young age that she would join the family business. Growing up her dad always said “you can go to any school you want to but I’m only paying for Howard University.”
The McKissack firm has received a “tremendous opportunity” to oversee the entire JFK project “from design through construction.”
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Inside Her Story: Black Women In Construction was originally published on blackamericaweb.com
