Cecil A. Partee
Cecil Armillo Partee was an American attorney and politician. He was the first African American to serve as president of the Illinois Senate and the first to serve as Cook County State's Attorney. He served in both the Illinois [House of Representatives] and the Illinois State Senate. He also served three terms as City Treasurer of Chicago.
Early life and education
Born in Blytheville, Arkansas, Partee received his bachelor's degree from Tennessee State University and his J.D. degree from Northwestern [University School of Law] in 1946.Political career
Illinois State House
He practiced law and was an assistant state's attorney. In 1956, he was elected to the Illinois House of Representatives as a Democrat. 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 legislation. He was also a leader in pursuing Employment discrimination law in [the United States|fair employment practices] legislation.
Illinois State Senate
In 1966, he was elected to the Illinois State Senate. 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.He ran for Illinois Attorney General in 1976 and won the Democratic Party nomination, but lost the general election to Republican William Scott.