What:

Dedication ceremony for the Vel. R. Phillips Post Office Building.

When:

Wednesday, April 17, 2019 – 11:00 a.m.

Where:

Dr. King Post Office Station
2650 North Doctor Martin Luther King Jr. Drive
Milwaukee WI 53212

Who:

Congresswoman Gwen Moore, U.S. Representative, Wisconsin 4th District
Tom Barrett, Mayor, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Milele Coggs, Alderwoman, Milwaukee, 6th District
Derron Bray, A/District Manager, U.S. Postal Service
Eddie Masangcay, A/Postmaster, U.S. Postal Service
Fred L. Crouther, Reverend, New Covenant Baptist Church
Mildred Coby, Family Representative
Marquette University, Army & ROTC, Color Guard, Milwaukee, WI

Background:

The career of Vel Phillips, civil rights and community pioneer, provides a pathway to justice through gracious persistence. Active in the women’s movement and the civil rights movement, Vel Phillips built a career full of “firsts” as both a woman and an African American in Wisconsin.

Born Velvalea Hortense Rodgers on Milwaukee’s South Side in 1923, Vel won a national oratory scholarship to attend Howard University in
Washington, D.C. After graduation, she returned to Milwaukee, where she met a young man, Dale Phillips, a first-year law student at the University of
Wisconsin Law School. They married. Vel began her studies at UW Law School in 1948 and graduated in 1951, the first African-American woman to earn a law degree from the University of Wisconsin.

After graduating from law school, Vel and Dale returned to the Milwaukee area and, in 1953, Vel ran for a seat on the school board. Although she lost the final election, she was the first African American to make it past the primary. Vel and Dale became active locally in the National Association for Colored People (NAACP), especially in support of a city redistricting referendum to increase black political representation. In 1956, Vel became the first woman and first African American to serve on Milwaukee’s Common Council. Throughout the 1960s, Vel participated in nonviolent protests against discrimination in housing, education, and employment, which gained her national recognition. She was the first African American in the United States elected to the National Committee of either of the two major political parties, and knew three presidents on a first-name basis: John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson, and Jimmy Carter.

After 15 years of serving on the Milwaukee Common Council, Vel resigned in 1971 and was appointed to the Milwaukee County judiciary. She was the first woman judge in Milwaukee and the first African-American judge in Wisconsin. In 1978, Vel made national history by being the first woman and first African American elected as the Secretary of State in Wisconsin.

She continued to be a vibrant part of the community after leaving public service providing private legal services and acting as a mentor to those who sought her sage advice.

On May 11, 2018, H.R. Bill 5784 to designate the Post Office building located at 2650 North Doctor Martin Luther King Jr. Drive in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, as the Vel R. Phillips Post Office Building, was introduced by Congresswoman Gwen Moore. It was signed into law on December 6, 2018, by the President of the United States on that same day.

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