02/16/2026
Introduction: Remembered Forward
Black tradesmen were everywhere—but rarely allowed to be recorded as professionals.
Titles were denied.
Licenses were restricted.
Unions were closed.
Credit was erased.
As I celebrate and reflect, I think about this day two years ago when I passed my contractor’s license test. That moment was personal—but it was never just mine. I can’t help but think about those who came before me, those who carried the work without the protection of a license, whose skill built foundations long before access was granted.
That’s not absence.
That’s exclusion.
This work—this craft, this calling—has always lived in Black hands. Long before permits, certifications, and inspection cards, there were Black builders shaping the physical backbone of this country. They framed homes they would never own. They laid pipe beneath cities that refused to recognize them. They wired institutions that ran on their labor but not their names.
We may not have a long list of names—but we have cities, railroads, homes, and institutions that stand as proof. Proof measured not in plaques or textbooks, but in structures that have endured generations. Proof in walls still standing, systems still functioning, foundations still holding.
Black contractors didn’t just work the trades.
They created them.
This space is written with humility and gratitude—for the hands that came before mine, for the skills passed down without credit, for the wisdom learned on job sites instead of in classrooms that were closed to us. I write knowing that every level line, every inspection passed, every license earned rests on sacrifices I did not personally have to endure.
I am my ancestors’ wildest dream.
I am the continuation of:
the unnamed master carpenter
the pipefitter locked out of the union
the electrician called “maintenance”
I am not new to this work.
I am remembered forward.
And this is where we begin.
Happy Black History Month!!!
