Cecil A. Partee Memoir - University of Illinois Springfield
Cecil A. Partee Memoir - University of Illinois Springfield Cecil A. Partee Memoir - University of Illinois Springfield
courts. The judiciary committee handled most of the laws of that sort, That was like throwing a rabbit in a briar patch because T had been 8 lawyer since 1947 and we're talking about 1957. I had been a lawyer ten years, so 1 was not naive nor uninformed, I guess I was dry behind the ears by then. Q: Yes, sir. A: So, I know I served on that committee . . . Q: Well, what I was driving at--now. for example, on the judiciary committee, were you interested in being assigned to that committee before the assignment? A: Yes, as a matter of fact, you had ro send in the names of the committees that you wanted to serve on and judiciary was one--my first choice, as a matter of fact,, Q: I see, yes. A: 1 have been very fortunate. T always got my choices. Whatever committees 1 asked for, I got them. Q: Well, let's see, now. Who was making the assignments when you first went down there? A: The Democratic leader-now, and ~'m not sure who that was. T think it was--at that time, I think it was George Dunne. (pause) 1 think so. I got the committees I wanted. Q: After organization, what was the first actian that you became involved in? Was it committee action or floor action? A: Probably--let me see . . . In these days when you came down the first day, you would sit down and you would get organized and then you wouldn't come back until sometime in February when they got the board set up with the names and the desks with your nameplates and all that, So I came back--1 think there was, it seems to me, some deficiency appropriations that we had to pass that first day. Because one--1 know one was fifty or sixty million dollars. T remember having to vote on something for fifty or - sixty million dollars was just ,. . a Q: And you were surprised at the amount, huh? A: Yes. (chuckles) Q: So it was about a one-day tour down there and then you came home. What did yau do then to prepare for going back? A: Well, 1 started getting together the ideas that T wanted to put into bills and getting the bills drawn preparatory to being introduced when I got back. Q: Yes. Did you do your own drawing of the bills?
BLACK DEMOCRATS IN THE 77TH ILLINOIS GENERAL ASSEMBLY. IN FRONT ROW ( L TO R): SENATORS CHARLES CHEW, JR., KENNETH HALL, CECIL A. PARTEE, RICHARD H. NEWHOUSE AND FRED J. SMITH. SECOND ROW (L TO R): REPRESENTA- TIVES LEWIS A. CALDWELL, RICHARD A. CARTER, JAMES A. MCLENDON, ROBERT L. THOMPSON, CORNEAL A. DAVIS AND JAMES Y. CARTER. BACK ROW: REPRE- SENTATIVES RAYMOND W. EWELL, JAMES C. TAYLOR, ISAAC R. SIMS, EUGENE M. BARNES, HAROLD WASHINGTON AND OTIS G. COLLINS. "I rather carefully avoided a black caucus as such, particularly since I was the president and leader of the entire legislature."
- Page 51 and 52: A: I didn't know any of them until
- Page 53 and 54: A: Well, just like going out for th
- Page 55 and 56: 4 1 SESSION 3, TAPE 3, SIDE 1 Q: I
- Page 57 and 58: yourself and so forth. Whereas, in
- Page 59 and 60: A: Yes, I remember a fellow by the
- Page 61 and 62: six inches, into my leg. And just m
- Page 63 and 64: Q: And you're still in touch with t
- Page 65 and 66: A: But they said, "You can go somew
- Page 67 and 68: Q: How did you get back and forth?
- Page 69 and 70: just on the weekend which was a lot
- Page 71 and 72: A: Well, I was there for about a ye
- Page 73 and 74: old fellow told me that he's from t
- Page 75 and 76: We tried to get a decision between
- Page 77 and 78: 63 Abraham Lincoln Hotel and we wer
- Page 79 and 80: Q: That had already finished? A: No
- Page 81 and 82: legislation, I think one day what I
- Page 83 and 84: A: No, that was about two years bef
- Page 85 and 86: A: Yes. q: Did she continue active
- Page 87 and 88: Q: Was this in replacement of Mr. C
- Page 89 and 90: Filipino or some man may be married
- Page 91 and 92: deal of controversy about them. Q:
- Page 93 and 94: well paying jobs but they had to do
- Page 95 and 96: joined other organizations for the
- Page 97 and 98: A: Generally just before an electio
- Page 99 and 100: A: No, I don't think we had opposit
- Page 101: where they paid you far two years t
- Page 105 and 106: CECIL PARTEE AT WORK IN THE SENATE
- Page 107 and 108: A: No, it was the Legislative Refer
- Page 109 and 110: Q: Well! (laughter) A: Yes, didn't
- Page 111 and 112: esearch if you needed it? A: Bill I
- Page 113 and 114: started from nothing. Q: Did that o
- Page 115 and 116: A: Well, not specifically as to the
- Page 117 and 118: for that. About 1968, Chicago start
- Page 119 and 120: he was there. We joined him in 1967
- Page 121 and 122: years and for many many years it fa
- Page 123 and 124: of that nature. But other than that
- Page 125 and 126: A: No, I do not. Q: Why were yau co
- Page 127 and 128: the word I seek now is . . . quota
- Page 129 and 130: the 1965 Civil Rights Act at the fe
- Page 131 and 132: matter of fact--with the head of th
- Page 133 and 134: served or rehabilitated as well as
BLACK DEMOCRATS IN THE 77TH ILLINOIS GENERAL ASSEMBLY. IN FRONT ROW<br />
( L TO R): SENATORS CHARLES CHEW, JR., KENNETH HALL, CECIL A. PARTEE,<br />
RICHARD H. NEWHOUSE AND FRED J. SMITH. SECOND ROW (L TO R): REPRESENTA-<br />
TIVES LEWIS A. CALDWELL, RICHARD A. CARTER, JAMES A. MCLENDON, ROBERT<br />
L. THOMPSON, CORNEAL A. DAVIS AND JAMES Y. CARTER. BACK ROW: REPRE-<br />
SENTATIVES RAYMOND W. EWELL, JAMES C. TAYLOR, ISAAC R. SIMS, EUGENE M.<br />
BARNES, HAROLD WASHINGTON AND OTIS G. COLLINS.<br />
"I rather carefully avoided a black caucus as such,<br />
particularly since I was the president and leader<br />
<strong>of</strong> the entire legislature."
Change language