Scott Walker to name Milwaukee state office building after civil rights leader Vel Phillips

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

MADISON - Gov. Scott Walker announced plans Tuesday to name a new state office building in Milwaukee after the late civil rights leader Vel Phillips.

Phillips, who passed away in April at the age of 95, was the first African-American woman on the Milwaukee Common Council and the first African-American woman to hold a statewide position. She served as the secretary of state.

While a member of the Common Council in 1962 Phillips pushed for a fair housing ordinance that would've made it illegal for landlords to not sell or rent property to African-Americans. When introduced, the proposal was defeated, 18-1.

Ald. Vel Phillips smiled as she was boosted to the shoulders of NAACP youth council commandos in 1967 while Father James Groppi spoke to the crowd at St. Boniface Catholic Church. Both later were arrested.

The ordinance passed six years later after the death of Martin Luther King Jr. and the passing of the federal Fair Housing Act.

“It is only fitting that the state’s future office building in Milwaukee be named in honor of Vel Phillips,” Walker said in a statement. “Vel Phillips was a nationally renowned trailblazer for civil rights, and her honorable legacy will benefit the city of Milwaukee and the state of Wisconsin for generations to come.”

Walker will include a request for the proposed Vel R. Phillips Milwaukee State Office Building in the 2019-'21 capital budget. The Department of Administration is reviewing responses to its request for proposals and the new location has yet to be decided on.

If approved, the new state building will be the latest commemoration to the activist’s life. The Milwaukee Common Council approved changing the name of North 4th Street from West St. Paul Avenue to West Capitol Drive to Vel R. Phillips Avenue.