| Summary: | Business executive Leatrice B. McKissack was born Leatrice Buchanan on July 27, 1930 in Keytesville, Missouri. Raised by her mother and stepfather, historian Dr. Alruthens A. Taylor, she graduated from Fisk University with her B.S. degree in mathematics in 1951. She married William DeBerry McKissack, son of the founder of McKissack & McKissack, a historic African American architectural firm in 1949. In 1957, McKissack earned her M.S. degree in psychology from Tennessee State University. McKissack taught in Nashville's segregated school system from 1952 to 1969. She became the CEO of both McKissack & McKissack and CEO of McKissack Contracting Company in 1983 after her husband suffered a stroke. In 1987, she won a contract for the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis, Tennessee. In 1988, she garnered a $50 million contract from Howard University and won the National Female Entrepreneur of the Year Award. In 1991, she formed the McKissack Development Corporation.
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