His skills were passed down and cultivated from generation to generation, prompting two of his grandsons to create a construction company in Tennessee, also called McKissack & McKissack.
"My father always took us [to] job sites, took us to the office.
Today, it brings in between $25 million and $30 million per year, according to documents reviewed by CNBC Make It, and manages $15 billion in projects with offices in Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles and Baltimore.
She applied for jobs as a federal contractor, getting her foot in the door to work on construction projects at the White House and U.S. Treasury building.
Deryl McKissack
Persons:
Deryl, Abraham Lincoln, Thomas Jefferson, Moses, Cheryl, McKissack, Moses McKissack, we've, they've, Andrea, William DeBerry
Organizations:
McKissack, D.C, Smithsonian African American Museum of, CNBC, Howard University, Washington Post, White House, . Treasury, Oxford
Locations:
Washington, Tennessee, New York, Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, Baltimore