Vel R. Phillips has been described by many as an icon, a trailblazer, a culture shifter, and a woman of many firsts.
The Milwaukee native and North Division High School graduate was the first Black woman to earn her degree from University of Wisconsin-Madison Law School, the first woman to be elected to Milwaukee’s Common Council, the first female judge in Milwaukee, and the first Black woman to win statewide office in Wisconsin, among dozens of other accomplishments.