Vel R. Phillips was a woman of many firsts in Milwaukee

Tamia Fowlkes, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Updated ·1 min read

Vel R. Phillips has been described by many as an icon, a trailblazer, a culture shifter, and a woman of many firsts.

The Milwaukee native and North Division High School graduate was the first Black woman to earn her degree from University of Wisconsin-Madison Law School, the first woman to be elected to Milwaukee’s Common Council, the first female judge in Milwaukee, and the first Black woman to win statewide office in Wisconsin, among dozens of other accomplishments.

Throughout her career, Phillips’ work throughout the state aimed to address barriers to housing, racial inequality and women’s rights.

97. Vel R. Phillips was a woman of many firsts. The first woman to be elected to Milwaukee’s Common Council, the first Black woman to win statewide office in Wisconsin, among other accomplishments. North Fourth Street was renamed Vel R. Phillips Avenue in her honor.
97. Vel R. Phillips was a woman of many firsts. The first woman to be elected to Milwaukee’s Common Council, the first Black woman to win statewide office in Wisconsin, among other accomplishments. North Fourth Street was renamed Vel R. Phillips Avenue in her honor.

In the 1960s, Phillips introduced proposals for Milwaukee’s fair housing ordinance with the goal of ending housing segregation. As the sole council member who supported the ordinance, Phillips hit the streets in protest with activists and organizers to push for the law which, after years of rejection, passed in 1968.

Before her death in 2018, Phillips told local officials that she hoped a commemoration of her legacy could exist in the district where she attended school and church. That year, Ald. Milele Coggs introduced the proposal to change North Fourth Street’s name, since the stretch of land ran through the council district that Phillips represented and grew up in.

Flanked by commandos of the Milwaukee youth council of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, Father James Groppi and Alderwoman Vel Phillips bundled against the below zero temperatures with hood and face mask, led about 50 persons supporting open housing legislation in a march. They braved the frigid weather for about 45 minutes.

In May 2018, Milwaukee’s Common Council voted unanimously to rename North Fourth Street between West St. Paul Avenue and West Capitol Drive to Vel R. Phillips Avenue in her honor. The street dedication stands parallel to Milwaukee’s Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Drive, reflecting the shared legacy of the two trailblazing civil rights leaders who pushed for equality for all.

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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Vel R. Phillips was a woman of many firsts in Milwaukee