Vel Phillips

Velvalea Rodgers "Vel" Phillips (born February 18, 1924) is a Wisconsin attorney who served as a local official and judge in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and as Secretary of State of Wisconsin, often as the first woman and/or African-American in her position.

Early life and education

Born on Milwaukee's South Side, Phillips won a national scholarship to attend Howard University, where she got her Bachelor of Arts degree in 1946. (She is a member of Delta Sigma Theta.) She returned to Wisconsin to attend the University of Wisconsin–Madison Law School, becoming the first black woman to graduate from that school (L.L.B, 1951). She and her husband (fellow UW Law graduate Dale Phillips) became the first husband-and-wife couple to be admitted to the Wisconsin bar.

Career