Cheryl McKissack Daniel is president and CEO of McKissack & McKissack, the nation’s oldest Black-owned architecture, construction, and engineering firm, according to UATL. The McKissack family has helped to build over 6,000 projects nationwide, with around 50 recognized as historic landmarks, the outlet reports.
Although McKissack Daniel’s company is based in New York, she has partnered with Atlanta-based H.J. Russell Construction Company — a 70-year-old Black-owned, family-run construction firm — on the expansion of the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA). McKissack Daniel noted that her team’s risk analysis expertise complements H.J. Russell’s project work.
She praised Atlanta for supporting Black construction designers and investing in projects that expand accessible transportation for communities.
“I think (public transportation) definitely affects the economics of a group of people if they can’t get to where they need to get at a reasonable cost,” McKissack Daniel said, per UATL.
In addition to her role in the MARTA expansion project, McKissack Daniel is also on tour promoting her new book, “The Black Family Who Built America: The McKissacks, Two Centuries of Daring Pioneers.” As a third-generation leader and fifth-generation builder, she chronicles her personal journey as a Black woman in construction and her family’s legacy — beginning with her great-great-grandfather who was captured in present-day Ghana and enslaved in 18th-century North Carolina.
Renamed “Moses,” he was trained as a bricklayer by his enslaver, William McKissack, and passed the trade to his son, Moses II, who brought the skill to Tennessee. There, Moses III — McKissack Daniel’s grandfather — and his brother, Calvin, became the first licensed Black architects in Tennessee. There, they founded McKissack & McKissack in 1922.
“We just know that if my great-grandfather could make it through that, then I can make it through whatever is coming right now,” McKissack Daniel said of her ancestors’ experiences with racism, per UATL.
She noted that education was a key factor in her family’s entrepreneurial growth.
“Education is definitely required for generational wealth,” McKissack Daniel said, according to UATL.
“With each generation, they expanded their trade, or they increased their education and certifications. So, that just kept going,” McKissack Daniel continued.
As for the MARTA expansion, McKissack Daniel emphasized the importance of collaboration over competition among Black-owned firms. H.J. Russell CEO Michael Russell echoed her sentiments, saying there’s room for all to thrive when Black-led construction companies support one another.
“It’s important that you have companies like (McKissack and Russell) around because, for one, we helped to set the example of what African American firms can be,” Russell said, per UATL.
“We need each other to succeed,” he continued.

Source link