The McKissack and McKissack architectural tradition

The McKissack and McKissack architectural tradition dates back to the first Moses McKissack (1790-1865) of the West African Ashanti tribe, who was sold into slavery to William McKissack of North Carolina and became a master builder. In 1822 he married Mirian (1804-1865), a Cherokee, and they had fourteen children. The ninth child, Gabriel Moses McKissack (1840-1922), continued in the building trade he learned from his father. Like his father, Gabriel Moses II taught the building skills to his son, Moses McKissack III (1879-1952).

Suggested Reading(s): Linda T. Wynn, "Leatrice B. McKissack," in Notable Black American Women, Book II, ed. Jessie Carney Smith (1996), 450-54 and "McKissack and McKissack Architects, 1905," in Profiles of African American in Tennessee, ed. Bobby L. Lovett and Linda T. Wynn (1996), 87-89.

The Tennessee Encyclopedia of History and Culture
http://tennesseeencyclopedia.net/imagegallery.php?EntryID=M051