Cecil A. Partee Memoir - University of Illinois Springfield
Cecil A. Partee Memoir - University of Illinois Springfield Cecil A. Partee Memoir - University of Illinois Springfield
I I I Q: Was this black and white? A: No, just black. Q: Where did they usually hold these? A: Normally at Oceola which is about eighteen miles south of my town, because it was a little more central. My town is up in one end of the county, Normally at Cteola. Q: You say they had a track meet also? A: A track meet was a part of it also. Q: Were you involved in that? A: I used to run the hurdles. Low hurdles. Q: Were you any good at it? A: Pretty good. Pretty good. Won some prizes. Q: So, this would be a daily affair, I guess. You would go down in the morning once or twice a year? A: Go down in the morning and come back late that evening, yes. And they had some really interesting kinds of things like you would have speed calculation. Put a group of figures on the board and the kids would walk up and they would say, "Go!" and they would have to do them with speed, totaling them up. Q: &, I see, mathematics, huh? A: Yes, for mathematics. You would have spelling contests, first grade, second grade, third grade, right through the whole sphere. Then they would have what they called either declamation contests, that would be people saying poems in the lower grades, and then for the high school, it would be oratorical contests. I remember one of the ones I had was a poem called the "New South." William--oh, what was his name? It's something--William O'Grady, O'Grady is the last name, who wrote a beautiful kind of speech after the Civil War. You know, what does he find? He finds his house in ruins, his farms decimated. It's a story of what a Southerner found when he came back from the war after the war was over. I just remember that was one of the orations that we did. It was all on a competitive basis with people judging you on memory, articulation, the whole thing, you know. Q: Was there any debate involved in it? A: Well, we did not have any debates as a part of that "rally," but we used to have debates in our high school and they would give us some subject that, really, there was no answer to it. For example, I remember once when we had
a debate on , "What is most destructive, fire or water?" Well, of course, there is no real answer but the idea was to inculcate in you the desire to do research. So you would have to go to the library and look up the various things that you would then debate, as to which was the more destructive. So, we had debates and they always gave you a subject that was, almost, incapable of having any final answer. But that wasn't the point, the point was to get you to do the research and the study and to give it in a convincing fashion. Q: How was it organized? Were you within the English . . . A: Part of the English department, yes. Part of the English department. Q: It was a team, though, that was set up, like two teams? A: Yes, like two on each side or something of that sort, yes. Two or sometimes three. Q: Did y 4 deb.ate before the school? A: Before the school body, student body? Yes. Q: Did you enjoy that sort of thing? A: Oh, I really enjoyed it. It was great. Taught you how to look up things, how to present them, how to knock down the points of others and how to minimize the strength or impact of what the other person was saying. It was great, really great for us. Q: What kind of resources did you have? Your own library in the school there@ Gas it a good one? A: No, not really. For a long period of time, we did not have access to the white library, you know. I say white library, it was a library that belonged to the city. There were times when you couldn't get in there, but I finally was able to start drawing books out of there, eventually. Q: Was this just in your case? Or was it . . . A: No. No, that was just for everybody. Nobody could get in. What happened was, this woman, who was the superintendent of schools, found out that I couldn't get books up there and she went up there and raised hell about it. She said, "Well, you let these kids have the books." So, I started getting them and then others, you know, started going in to get them. She gave me my first book--first present anyone ever gave me of a book, was that: white woman. Her name was Mrs. Willie A. Lawson. Incidentally, she later became the state superintendent of schools for the State of Arkansas, first woman. Q: Did you own many books when you were . . . A: Yes, my family always gave me books. I always had some books. We had, you know, a fair library in our school and I read everything I could get my hands
- Page 1 and 2: University of Illinois at Springfie
- Page 3 and 4: ILLINOIS LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL 107 St
- Page 5 and 6: CECIL A. PARTEE Illinois House of R
- Page 7 and 8: Mr. Bartee retired at the end of th
- Page 9 and 10: Volume I SESSION 1, TAPE 1, SIDE 1
- Page 11 and 12: Q: You say she taught there near Bl
- Page 13 and 14: The third grade teacher taught us t
- Page 15 and 16: A: No. None as dramatic as that. Ha
- Page 17 and 18: and said, in one of the contests, L
- Page 19 and 20: I 1 Q: Oh? i '1 A: And then I had a
- Page 21 and 22: So the whole family relationship an
- Page 23 and 24: a tie-in between that and what we c
- Page 25 and 26: A: And my grandmother. My grandmoth
- Page 27: But I think it was more or less a S
- Page 31 and 32: somebody or something foul. So, had
- Page 33 and 34: when prohibition was over and they
- Page 35 and 36: A: Mixed crews, yes. Q: Do you reme
- Page 37 and 38: to her for fear she wouldn't pay me
- Page 39 and 40: lawyer who became a judge there. He
- Page 41 and 42: A: (pause) I don't know. I think pr
- Page 43 and 44: CHARLES CECIL AND BESSIE DUPREE PAR
- Page 45 and 46: COURTESV OF BESSIE D. IVY CECIL PAR
- Page 47 and 48: CORNEAL DAVIS (L) AND CEClL PARTEE.
- Page 49 and 50: A: Beautiful. I stayed in the dormi
- 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
a debate on , "What is most destructive, fire or water?" Well, <strong>of</strong> course,<br />
there is no real answer but the idea was to inculcate in you the desire to do<br />
research. So you would have to go to the library and look up the various<br />
things that you would then debate, as to which was the more destructive. So,<br />
we had debates and they always gave you a subject that was, almost, incapable<br />
<strong>of</strong> having any final answer. But that wasn't the point, the point was to get<br />
you to do the research and the study and to give it in a convincing fashion.<br />
Q: How was it organized? Were you within the English . . .<br />
A: Part <strong>of</strong> the English department, yes. Part <strong>of</strong> the English department.<br />
Q: It was a team, though, that was set up, like two teams?<br />
A: Yes, like two on each side or something <strong>of</strong> that sort, yes. Two or<br />
sometimes three.<br />
Q: Did y 4 deb.ate before the school?<br />
A: Before the school body, student body? Yes.<br />
Q: Did you enjoy that sort <strong>of</strong> thing?<br />
A: Oh, I really enjoyed it. It was great. Taught you how to look up things,<br />
how to present them, how to knock down the points <strong>of</strong> others and how to minimize<br />
the strength or impact <strong>of</strong> what the other person was saying. It was<br />
great, really great for us.<br />
Q: What kind <strong>of</strong> resources did you have? Your own library in the school there@<br />
Gas it a good one?<br />
A: No, not really. For a long period <strong>of</strong> time, we did not have access to the<br />
white library, you know. I say white library, it was a library that belonged<br />
to the city. There were times when you couldn't get in there, but I finally<br />
was able to start drawing books out <strong>of</strong> there, eventually.<br />
Q: Was this just in your case? Or was it . . .<br />
A: No. No, that was just for everybody. Nobody could get in. What happened<br />
was, this woman, who was the superintendent <strong>of</strong> schools, found out that I<br />
couldn't get books up there and she went up there and raised hell about it.<br />
She said, "Well, you let these kids have the books." So, I started getting<br />
them and then others, you know, started going in to get them. She gave me my<br />
first book--first<br />
present anyone ever gave me <strong>of</strong> a book, was that: white woman.<br />
Her name was Mrs. Willie A. Lawson. Incidentally, she later became the state<br />
superintendent <strong>of</strong> schools for the State <strong>of</strong> Arkansas, first woman.<br />
Q: Did you own many books when you were . . .<br />
A: Yes, my family always gave me books. I always had some books. We had, you<br />
know, a fair library in our school and I read everything I could get my hands
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