Cecil A. Partee Memoir - University of Illinois Springfield

A: I didn't know any of them until I got to school. I didn't know any of
those people until I got there.
Q: Was there anyone back home that knew of that fraternity?
A: Yes, but I didn't really realize that, because I hadn't really had any
discussion with anybody back home about fraternities. There was a man for
whom I had worked one summer, a dentist at home that I had worked for. In
those days, dentists made their own teeth and he taught me how to bake the
teeth, the enamel on, and all that sort of stuff. So, I worked for him one
summer and when I came back, I had my indication of my pledging on my lapel.
He noted that I had a scroll which was a pledge pin for Kappa and he said,
"oh, you're gonna be a Jhppa." I said, "~es." He says, "I'm a Kappa."
And I didn't realize it until then, because I had really had no basic conversation
with anybody about the fraternities until I got there. I'm sort of
glad I did, because I made the choice on my own without any kind of prior
influences. Yes.
Q: (pause) Going back a little bit, was there any individual in high school
that gave you a reason for wanting to go to Tennessee State? Other than
perhaps your mother's interest?
A: No, nobody had really mentioned that school at all. I don't know, I just
always assumed I would go to college and--because I always wanted to be a
doctor, that was my plan.
Q: Oh? A physician?
A: A physician, yes. I found out one day that I had no chemistry for blood
and illness and I hated to be around people when they were sick because I
didn't feel I could do enough for them. So I abandoned the notion of begng a
doc tor.
I really went into business because I had wanted to be an actuary, because I
did very well in. math and all. I read an article once about a fellow who was
an actuary and there were only three or four black actuaries in the United
States and I said, "My God, if you'd get to be one of those, you could always
get a good job and you wouldn't have to worry and all that." So, I started
out and wanted to be an actuary. By the time I got to be a sophomore in
college and got involved in accounting, I just decided that wasn't for me
because it's a profession--I thought, you know--for people who are kind of
loners, who like to work by themselves and I found I was sort of gregarious
and I needed something that involved people.
After I started debating and started doing very well in the debating, it was
suggested to me by one of my history professors that maybe I ought to consider
going to law school. My roommate was a fellow who came to school saying he
wanted to be a lawyer and so we got to talking about it again and I then
decided probably that would be the way I would go. I would go to law school.