Hon. Mike Espy Visit Highlights George Washington Carver Celebration

The Hon. Mike Espy, the nation’s first African American U.S. Secretary of Agriculture and former U.S. representative from Mississippi, received the George Washington Carver Medal on Jan. 30, as part of George Washington Carver celebrations at Simpson College.

The Carver Medal is presented to individuals who have shown outstanding leadership in science, education, the arts, or religion, while committing themselves to humanitarian causes. Espy’s achievements are many and far reaching. He overhauled the national food inspection system. He also created a national program to bring clean, safe drinking water to rural households. And he played a key role in reorganizing the USDA to improve efficiency while strengthening the agency’s rural development and nutrition missions.

Espy’s passion for solving agricultural challenges, including his work in fighting rampant discrimination against black farmers, is rooted in his father’s close connection to George Washington Carver. Espy’s father, Henry W. Espy Sr., studied directly under Carver and served as his lab assistant at Tuskegee College. Carver’s mentorship paved the way for Espy’s father to become the first African American county agent for the USDA Extension Service in Arkansas.

As fate would have it, Espy’s election as a U.S. representative in 1986 landed him a coveted spot on the House Committee on Agriculture. At that time, Espy was green on his ag knowledge.

“I cared more about law and politics than row crops and crop insurance,” said Espy. “I never planted anything. It was my father who knew about plants and crops — delighting my mother with vases of purple roses and bringing us roasted peanuts, sweet potatoes and sugar cane. I just ate it — I thought it came from a supermarket.”

Espy, though, was a quick study in his new field of congressional work, ultimately leading to his appointment as U.S. Secretary of Agriculture under President Clinton in 1993. On his first day, he received something very special from the ag archives — notes from his father’s service as an extension agent. The contents included one of his father’s speeches in which he summed up the difference-making traits modeled by his mentor, Dr. Carver.

“Audacity, innovation, independence, integrity and confidence in your own capacity to do good — that’s how you become great,” said Espy reciting his father’s remarks. Espy continues to emulate those ideals through his current service as chair of the board of CNFA (Creating New Frontiers in Agriculture), an international nonprofit organization dedicated to the development of production agriculture in 44 countries.

Moments before receiving a robust standing ovation while receiving the Carver Medal from Simpson President Jay Byers, Espy expressed how humbled he was by the honor. He only wished he could share the special moment with his late father.

“My father died when I was in law school. He never saw me take the oath of office to become Secretary of Agriculture. He never saw me take the oath of office four times as a congressman—the first time from a district that was not majority black. But, tonight, I just have a feeling that even though he’s not here — he just might be.”