MADISON, Wis. – Governor Tony Evers created a committee to plan a statute honor Black jurist Vel Phillips at the state Capitol, Phillips was the first Black woman to graduate from the University of Wisconsin Law School, the first Black woman to win a seat on the Milwaukee City Council, and the first to become a judge in Wisconsin. She served one term as secretary of state. She died in 2018 at age 95.

Phillips. Wisconsin secretary of state, 1979-1983.