Vel Phillips Becomes First Black Woman Honored with Statue Outside a State Capitol

by Will DeFour, age 15

Last summer, a statue of Vel Phillips was unveiled outside the Wisconsin state Capitol. Phillips was a pioneer who championed legislation to advocate for civil rights and in many cases, was the first woman of color to hold many offices in Wisconsin.

Phillips was born in the early 1920s on the south side of Milwaukee. After graduating high school, she earned a national scholarship to Howard University. In 1951, she became the first woman of color to graduate from the University of Wisconsin-Madison Law School. She then went on to become the first alderwoman in Milwaukee. While she served, Phillips advocated for housing policies to end discrimination against minorities. She joined the NAACP, participated in many protests, and organized a 200-day demonstration to push for fair housing legislation.

In 1971, Phillips was appointed a judge in Milwaukee County, the first African American appointed to this role in Wisconsin. Only seven years later, she was elected secretary of state in Wisconsin, the first woman of color to hold that position.

Phillips passed away at the age of 95 in 2018 and continued to break barriers beyond the grave when her statue was put up outside the Capitol. The statue is the first of an African American on the Capitol grounds. It also is the first statue of a Black woman outside any capitol building in the United States.

Both in life and death, Phillips has achieved many firsts in the history of Wisconsin. She will be remembered for the many barriers she broke down.

[Sources: Madison Community Foundation; Wisconsin Women Making History; University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee; Wisconsin Alumni Association; The Nonviolence Project]