Cecil Armillo Partee (April 10, 1921 – August 17, 1994) was an American attorney and politician. He was the first

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

to serve as president of the

Illinois Senate The Illinois Senate is the Upper house, upper chamber of the Illinois General Assembly, the legislative branch of the government of the U.S. state, State of Illinois in the United States. The body was created by the first state constitution adop ...

and the first to serve as

Cook County State's Attorney The Cook County State's Attorney functions as the state of Illinois's district attorney for Cook County, Illinois, and heads the second-largest prosecutor's office in the United States. The office has over 700 attorneys and 1,100 employees. In ad ...

. He served in both the

Illinois House of Representatives The Illinois House of Representatives is the lower house of the Illinois General Assembly. The body was created by the first Illinois Constitution adopted in 1818. The House under the current constitution as amended in 1980 consists of 118 re ...

and the

Illinois State Senate The Illinois Senate is the upper chamber of the Illinois General Assembly, the legislative branch of the government of the State of Illinois in the United States. The body was created by the first state constitution adopted in 1818. Under the I ...

. He also served three terms as

City Treasurer of Chicago The City Treasurer of Chicago is an elected official of the City of Chicago. Current Occupant The current City Treasurer of Chicago is Democrat Melissa Conyears. Conyears was elected by Chicago citizens on April 2, 2019, and took the oath of o ...

Early life and education

Born in

Blytheville, Arkansas Blytheville is the county seat and the largest city in Mississippi County, Arkansas, United States. It is approximately north of West Memphis. The population was 13,406 at the 2020 census, down from 15,620 in 2010. History Blytheville was found ...

, Partee received his bachelor's degree from

Tennessee State University Tennessee State University (Tennessee State, Tenn State, or TSU) is a public historically black land-grant university in Nashville, Tennessee, United States. Founded in 1912, it is the only state-funded historically black university in Tenness ...

and his J.D. degree from

Northwestern University School of Law Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law is the law school of Northwestern University, a private research university. It is located on the university's Chicago campus. Northwestern Law has been ranked among the top 14, or "T14" law scho ...

in 1946.

Political career

Illinois State House

He practiced law and was an assistant state's attorney. In 1956, he was elected to the

as a

Democrat Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to: Politics *A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people. *A member of a Democratic Party: **Democratic Party (United States) (D) **Democratic ...

. As a member of the House, he served on a special House committee on reapportionment, as chairman of an interim legislative committee that set up the Illinois Fair Employment Practices Commission, and as chairman of the House Elections Committee. While in the House, Partee sponsored

fair housing Housing discrimination in the United States refers to the historical and current barriers, policies, and biases that prevent equitable access to housing. Housing discrimination became more pronounced after the abolition of slavery in 1865, typical ...

legislation. He was also a leader in pursuing fair employment practices legislation.

Illinois State Senate

In 1966, he was elected to the

. In 1975, he was elected as President of the Illinois Senate, becoming the first black person to serve in that role and the first to head a state legislature anywhere in the United States since the end of

Reconstruction Reconstruction may refer to: Politics, history, and sociology *Reconstruction (law), the transfer of a company's (or several companies') business to a new company *'' Perestroika'' (Russian for "reconstruction"), a late 20th century Soviet Unio ...

. He ran for

Illinois Attorney General The Illinois Attorney General is the highest legal officer of the state of Illinois in the United States. Originally an appointed office, it is now an office filled by statewide election. Based in Chicago and Springfield, Illinois, the attorney ...

in 1976 and won the Democratic Party nomination, but lost the general election to

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

William Scott.

20th Ward Committeeman

During the 1970s, Partee served as Democratic Party committeeman for Chicago's 20th ward. He was credited in his ''Chicago Tribune'' obituary for playing an important role in helping

Harold Washington Harold Lee Washington (April 15, 1922 – November 25, 1987) was an American lawyer and politician who was the 51st Mayor of Chicago. Washington became the first African American to be elected as the city's mayor in April 1983. He served as ma ...

win a close election for State Representative while in this position.

City Treasurer of Chicago

In 1979, he successfully ran for

. He won re-election twice and served in the office until 1989.

Cook County State's Attorney

Partee was appointed State Attorney for Cook County on April 24, 1989, when

Richard M. Daley Richard Michael Daley (born April 24, 1942) is an American politician who served as the 54th mayor of Chicago, Illinois, from 1989 to 2011. Daley was elected mayor in 1989 and was reelected five times until declining to run for a seventh term ...

was elected

Mayor of Chicago The mayor of Chicago is the chief executive of city government in Chicago, Illinois, the third-largest city in the United States. The mayor is responsible for the administration and management of various city departments, submits proposals and r ...

. He was the first black person to serve in this office, and the last until

Kim Foxx Kimberly M. Foxx (née Anderson; born April 4, 1972) is an American politician, who is currently the Cook County State's Attorney, State's Attorney (district attorney) for Cook County, Illinois. She manages the second largest prosecutor's office ...

in 2016. He lost a special election for the office to

candidate Jack O'Malley on November 6, 1990.

Death

Partee died of

lung cancer Lung cancer, also known as lung carcinoma (since about 98–99% of all lung cancers are carcinomas), is a malignant lung tumor characterized by uncontrolled cell growth in tissue (biology), tissues of the lung. Lung carcinomas derive from tran ...

in Chicago on August 17, 1994.

References

External links

Richard J. Daley Library-Cecil Armillo Partee papers
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Partee, Cecil A 1921 births 1994 deaths African-American state legislators in Illinois Democratic Party Illinois state senators Democratic Party members of the Illinois House of Representatives District attorneys in Illinois Politicians from Chicago Illinois lawyers Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law alumni Tennessee State University alumni People from Blytheville, Arkansas 20th-century American lawyers 20th-century African-American politicians 20th-century American politicians African-American lawyers