SR17,1,32 Whereas, Velvalea "Vel" Rogers Phillips was born on February 18, 1924, in
3Milwaukee, Wisconsin; and

SR17,1,74 Whereas, Vel Phillips, who after winning a national scholarship to attend
5Howard University, in Washington, D.C., returned to Wisconsin to complete her law
6degree and became the first African-American woman to graduate from the
7University of Wisconsin-Madison Law school; and

SR17,1,108 Whereas, in 1953, Phillips ran for a seat on the school board of the Milwaukee
9Public Schools, and was the first African-American candidate to make it past the
10non-partisan, citywide primary election; and

SR17,1,1211 Whereas, in 1956, she became the first woman and the first African-American
12member of the common council in Milwaukee; and

SR17,1,1513 Whereas, Vel Phillips was appointed to the Milwaukee County judiciary, the
14first woman judge in Milwaukee and the first African-American judge in Wisconsin;
15and

SR17,2,3

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1Whereas, in 1978, Vel Phillips was the first woman and first nonwhite elected
2secretary of state in Wisconsin, and during the absence of both the governor and
3lieutenant governor, under Wisconsin law, she briefly served as acting governor; and

SR17,2,54 Whereas, in 2002 Vel Phillips was awarded a distinguished professor chair at
5Marquette Law School; and

SR17,2,76 Whereas, Vel Phillips was the highest-ranking woman to win state office in
7Wisconsin in the twentieth century; and

SR17,2,118 Whereas, the adoption of this senate resolution is supported not only by the
9senate, but also by members of the assembly, including specifically Representatives
10Sheridan, Schneider, Young, Grigsby, Sinicki, Mason, Fields, Benedict, Turner,
11Kessler, and Hintz; now, therefore, be it