02/24/2026
For our final post of Black History Month, meet Vel R. Phillips, one of the most storied black women from Wisconsin. She lived a long life of firsts, and her legacy continues today.
Velvalea “Vel” Hortense Rodgers Phillips was born in Milwaukee on February 18, 1924, growing up in the Bronzeville neighborhood with her parents, Thelma and Russell Rodgers. In her senior year at North Division High School, Vel was disqualified from the Elk Oratorical Contest due to racial discrimination from a judge. Her fellow students petitioned to have it overturned, and Vel was allowed to compete. Vel’s essay, “The Negro and the Constitution,” led her to victory in the contest, and earned her a full scholarship to attend HBCU Howard University in 1942. Vel returned to Wisconsin from Washington D.C. where she became the first black woman to graduate from the UW-Madison Law School, in 1951.While in law school, Vel met and married fellow student, W. Dale Phillips.
Vel and her husband returned to Bronzeville, where they opened a law firm and became the Wisconsin Bar’s first married legal team. They were active in the local NAACP, where Vel worked on redistricting after the census. In 1952, Vel started her political career with an unsuccessful bid to join the Milwaukee School Board. A couple years later, Milwaukee was redistricted due to a growing black population, creating a new aldermanic seat with no incumbent. Vel won that seat in 1956, becoming the first woman, and first black person, on Milwaukee’s Common Council.
A rising political star, in 1958 Vel won a state committee post with the Democratic Party. This made her the first black person elected to the Democratic Party national committee, and in 1960 she became the first black person to lead a standing committee, the Platform Committee. In 1960 the Democratic Party was split between people arguing for civil rights, and Southern segregationists. Vel championed civil rights as the future of the party, which won out and became the Democrats’ official position. Back in Milwaukee, Vel introduced the Phillips Housing Ordinance to the Common Council in 1962, where she was the only vote in favor. Each year until 1967 she reintroduced the legislation and lost. In 1967 Vel participated in the housing marches and sit-ins to end housing discrimination, later joined by Father James Groppi. It wasn’t until 1968, after the Fair Housing Act, that Milwaukee passed her legislation to end housing discrimination.
Vel’s next set of firsts was in 1971, when she was appointed to judge at Milwaukee County Circuit Court by Gov. Patrick Lucey. This made her Milwaukee’s first woman judge, and Wisconsin’s first black judge. Vel didn’t win the following election to retain her bench seat, but didn’t leave politics. In 1978 Vel won the WI Secretary of State race, becoming the nation’s first black woman elected statewide to an executive office. In her one-term run, Vel served as Acting Governor for several days while both the Gov. and Lt. Gov were absent. She joked, “the men hurried back” when they realized they left a woman in charge. Intersectionality was important to Vel. In her early career, Milwaukee media focused more on her gender than her race. While serving on the Common Council, Mayor Maier told Vel her husband should give her “a whipping” for her unwavering support of fair housing. “We are a very racist country, unfortunately,” Vel said. “But once you’re there, they [whites] will realize you’re just like everybody else. But the men never forget that you are a woman. Never ever ever.” Vel continued to champion what was right, advocating for reproductive freedom, marriage equality, and LGTBQ rights.
After her personal political career ended, Vel never left the field. Vel worked on Gwen Moore’s campaign in 2004 for the US House, helping Gwen become Wisconsin’s first black representative in Congress. Vel also mentored Mandela Barnes, who she met in 2014 while he was in the WI Assembly. Barnes has said he, “would not have been elected lieutenant governor or had the confidence to run for the U.S. Senate if it weren’t for Vel Phillips.” When Barnes became Lt. Gov. in 2018, he became the second black person elected to statewide office in WI, 40 years after Vel was the first.
When Vel died in 2018, she left a huge legacy and an indelible mark on Wisconsin. The celebration of Vel’s life is ongoing. In Milwaukee, 4th Street was renamed in her honor, running through the Bronzeville neighborhood she long called home. Downtown, the Vel R. Phillips Plaza was built, turning a parking lot into a park in her honor. In Madison, James Madison Memorial High School was renamed to the Vel Phillips Memorial High School. And in 2024, a sculpture of Vel was placed on the grounds of the Wisconsin Capitol. Even posthumously Vel continued her firsts, becoming the first black woman depicted in a statue on a state capitol in the entire country.
