Vel Phillips
Mrs. Vel Phillips
Portrait of Vel Phillips taken on February 7, 1953 in Wisconsin. Vel graduated the UW-Madison school of law in 1951. By 1956, Vel won a seat on the Milwaukee city council. View the original source document: WHI 51783
Note: This is a grade-level appropriate biographical essay about a significant figure from Wisconsin's past.
"Live where you want to live." - Vel Phillips
Judge Vel Phillips
Portrait of Vel Phillips in her judges's black robe with an American flag behind her. She was the 13th District Children's Court judge, the first woman and African American to hold this post. View the original source document: WHI 28115
Vel Phillips, 2013
You graduated from college, you have a good job, and you are looking for your first apartment. It’s an exciting time! But when you meet the landlord, they turn you away because of the color of your skin. Would you let racists tell you where and how to live? Or would you fight for change like Vel Phillips did?
Velvalea Rodgers was born in Milwaukee on February 18, 1923. Vel was a great student and earned a scholarship to attend Howard University in Washington, DC. She graduated from college in 1946. In 1947, she met and married Dale Phillips. Together, they went to law school. Vel graduated from the University of Wisconsin–Madison Law School in 1951. She and Dale moved to Milwaukee to start a business and raise a family.
Vel and Dale both experienced systemic racism in Milwaukee. White people made it very hard to find work or places to live outside of a small area in Milwaukee called Bronzeville. Bronzeville was a neighborhood on the city’s north side. Most of its residents were African Americans. The leaders of Milwaukee refused to pay for repairs to the roads and schools within the community. Schools were neglected. There weren’t many jobs. White landlords would not rent to Black people outside of Bronzeville. Black families could not buy homes in other parts of the city. Something had to be done.
Vel wanted to make people’s lives better, so she decided to run for office. She knew it wasn’t fair that people could not live, work, and go to school where they wanted because of the color of their skin. She believed that everyone should “Live where you want to live.” Vel ran for a seat on the school board. She won the primary, but she lost the election. It was the first time an African American woman had won a primary! She didn’t stop there. In 1956, Vel won a seat on the Milwaukee City Council. Vel became “Madam Alderman” and went to work for the people of Milwaukee.
Vel first proposed her Fair Housing Law in 1962. The law would make it illegal to discriminate against people because of the color of their skin when renting or selling homes. The law was voted down six times. Activists began protesting against the unfair treatment of African Americans.
Vel participated in nonviolent protests. Still, she was eventually arrested at a rally. Vel and Father James Groppi led protestors for two hundred nights of marching. Night after night, they marched from the Inner Core and across the 16th Street Viaduct. Every night their march ended in South Milwaukee. Angry white men and women lined the streets. They swore at the marchers and threw rocks and bottles at them. Mayor Maier tried to stop the marchers with a curfew. Tensions rose between the protestors and the police. The National Guard was called in. Finally, in 1968, the city council passed a Fair Housing Law for the city of Milwaukee. The marchers had won!
Vel Phillips’s career included many “firsts.” She was the first Black woman to graduate from UW-Madison’s law school. First to win a seat on Milwaukee’s City Council. First to be an appointed judge in Wisconsin. First to become Secretary of State for Wisconsin (or anywhere in the US). Even though she passed away in 2018, the Vel Phillips Foundation still works to help people achieve their dreams.
Download the Vel Phillips Coloring Page [PDF]!
Reading Level Correlations
- Level X (6th Grade)
Learn more about Vel Phillips in Valiant Vel: Vel Phillips and the Fight for Fairness and Equality by Jerrianne Hayslett from the Wisconsin Historical Society Press.