Wisconsin has lost one of its most beloved Civil Rights pioneers. Vel Phillips passed away last night at age 94.
Phillips leaves behind a legacy of firsts. She was Milwaukee's first black judge, as well as Wisconsin's first black Secretary of State (as well as the first woman to serve in that position), the first black woman to graduate from the University of Wisconsin Law School and the first woman and African American elected to Milwaukee's Common Council.
But it was her tireless fight for fair housing in Milwaukee for which she may be best remembered. Phillips first introduced an open housing ordinance to the Common Council in 1962, and continued introducing it every 90 days for the next seven years, which leading protests and marchers with fellow advocates like Father James Groppi. Her ordinance finally passed in 1968, just weeks after the assassination of Martin Luther King.
In a 2013 interview with the Shepherd Express, Phillips recalled her participation in Dr. King's 1963 March on Washington, calling it "a shot in the arm."
“I came away, and my husband did too, feeling that we’re going to get to that promised land,” Phillips said. “That things are going to change.”
Her involvement in activism continued into the new millennium, as she marched against the war in Iraq and protested the 2006 acquittal of the three former Milwaukee police officers charged with beating Frank Jude Jr.
Mayor Tom Barrett celebrated Phillips' legacy in a statement today. "Vel Phillips was a relentless fighter for civil rights in Milwaukee," he wrote. "She marched for fair housing as a young adult and she dedicated her life to improving our city, both as an alderwoman and judge. Though she is no longer with us, we must continue the work she started."
Phillips passed away just hours after the Common Council had approved creating an annual award in her honor.
"I pushed to create the Trailblazer Award now because I believe in giving people their flowers (although Ms. Phillips preferred plants) while they are living," Alderwoman Milele A. Coggs wrote in a statement. "It was cruel irony to get the notice last evening of her passing but I am glad we had the chance to honor this trailblazing woman and hopefully the award will become just one of many small ways of keeping her legacy alive."
Phillips' work was highlighted this winter in an exhibit at the Jewish Museum Milwaukee, "Allied in the Fight," and she was the subject of a 2016 documentary, Vel Phillips: Dream Big Dreams.
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