Charles Magee

Agriculturalist Charles Magee was born on March 28, 1948, to Eva N. Magee in Prentiss, Mississippi. He received his B.S. degree in general agriculture (animal science) from Alcorn State University in 1970, his M.S. degree in agricultural engineering from the University of Minnesota in 1973, and his Ph.D. degree in agricultural and biological engineering from Cornell University in 1980. Magee was the first African American graduate of a historically Black college or university to earn a Ph.D. degree in agricultural and biological engineering.

In 1973, Magee was hired as a research associate and instructor for North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University’s department of plant science and technology. He then worked as a teaching and research assistant at Cornell University between 1974 and 1979 before becoming an assistant professor of agricultural engineering at the University of Arkansas-Fayetteville in 1979. He was hired as an associate professor of agricultural engineering technology at Fort Valley State University, Georgia in 1984. In 1995, Magee joined Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University to establish a program in Biological and Agricultural Systems Engineering (BASE), where he served as the program’s first director for six years beginning in 1996. Throughout the course of his career, sixteen patents have been registered in Magee’s name.

In 1988, Magee joined the 1890 Association of Research Directors and was a founding member of the National Society for Minorities in Agriculture, National Resources and Related Sciences (MANRRS). He served as the MANRRS advisory board chair between 1991 and 1999. Magee became a member of the Socially Disadvantaged Farmers and Ranchers Policy Research Center at Alcorn State University in 2014.

Magee received numerous awards for his professional accomplishments. In 2017, Magee was awarded the Teacher of the Year from the Florida Section of the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers (FL-ASABE). He was inducted into the National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) in 2020 and to the National Academy of Inventors (NAI) as a senior member in 2022.

Magee and his wife, Audrey, live in Cairo, Georgia. They have two children, Candice and Darian.

Charles Magee was interviewed by The HistoryMakers on February 26, 2024.