Moses McKissack III
The grandsons of a trained builder and African-born slave, Moses McKissack III and his brother Calvin became the first and second (respectively) black architects licensed in their home state of Tennessee in 1922. Together, they formed McKissack and McKissack, the nation’s first black-owned architecture firm, and the oldest still in operation today. In 1942, they won a multi-million-dollar federal contract to design the Tuskegee Army Airfield, which was the largest project that had been awarded to a black-owned firm to that date. Today, the firm is known for its design and construction management, with one of its most recent and notable projects being the National Museum of African American History and Culture, designed by architect David Adjaye.
Leave a Reply