Velvalea Rodgers was born in 1924 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and graduated from North Division High School. She attended Howard University on a scholarship, where she was a member of Delta Sigma Theta, and graduated with a B.A. in 1946.
She married William Dale Phillips, a University of Wisconsin-Madison Law School classmate. She completed her LLB from the Law School in 1951, being the first African American female graduate. The couple then practiced law together in Milwaukee.
While Dale Phillips practiced law in Milwaukee, he was also active in community life, including serving as president of the Milwaukee branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in the 1950s. In the 1970s and 1980s, Dale served on the State Board of Review of Savings and Loans, in which capacity he worked to oppose the practice of "red-lining," or denying loans to borrowers in neighborhoods in decline. Governor Dreyfus nominated Dale Phillips to a federal judicial position in the Eastern district in 1979, but Phillips was not elected.
In 1956, Vel Phillips was elected to the Milwaukee Common Council, the first woman and African American in that position. While running for office she shortened her name from Velvalea to "Vel". She was active on many committees on the council, but is best remembered for proposing an ordinance to end housing discrimination. This open housing ordinance was first introduced in 1962, but Phillips was the only alderman to vote for it. She would revise the ordinance and introduce it every year through 1967, though the council continued to vote against it. In 1967, Phillips joined with Father James Groppi and the NAACP Youth Council in a series of protest marches, to draw attention to the issue of housing discrimination. After the passage of the Federal Civil Rights Act in 1968, Milwaukee's Common Council did vote to adopt open housing. She remained an alder until 1971 when she was appointed to the Milwaukee County Children's Court.
Vel Phillips was also a national committeewoman in the Democratic Party, beginning in 1958. In 1961, President Kennedy appointed her Special Ambassador for a diplomatic trip to Africa, in which she attended ceremonies celebrating the independence of the Republic of Upper Volta, in Ouagadougou. Then in 1964, she was a member of a delegation of women sent to West Germany for a goodwill tour. She lost reelection as national committeewoman in 1964. However, she continues to appear in campaigns for Democratic politicians at the state and federal level into the 21st century.
In 1971, Governor Lucey appointed Vel Phillips to the Milwaukee County Children's Court, making her the first African American judge in Wisconsin history. Among her actions as judge, she found a state law allowing juvenile courts to waive jurisdiction over a minor to be unconstitutional. She lost the 1972 election, to assistant district attorney Victor Manian.
Following her judicial career, Vel Phillips became a visiting lecturer in the Department of Afro-American Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
In 1979, Vel Phillips was elected as Secretary of State. She was the first African American to serve in statewide office, and the first woman elected to statewide office. During her term, she worked to revise and better enforce state law governing lobbyists, and she worked on a project to commission a hand-scripted replica of the state constitution. Toward the end of her first term, the State Ethics Board investigated allegations that her staff were writing speeches, on state time, for which Phillips was receiving honoraria. Phillips later refunded the state the amount she had received for speaking events. In 1983 she lost the re-election to Douglas La Follette.
After leaving state office, Phillips remained active in the Milwaukee community, both as a lawyer and as a member of numerous organizations. She was a guest lecturer at UW-Milwaukee, UW-Madison, Carroll University, and Marquette University. She also helped the campaigns of many Milwaukeeans running for public office, including the campaign of U.S. Representative Gwen Moore. Phillips was also on the board of the Vel Phillips Foundation, a charitable foundation founded in 2006.
Vel Phillips died in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on April 17, 2018.
