PBS Wisconsin Documentaries

Vel Phillips

Dream Big Dreams is funded in part by the Greater Milwaukee Foundation, Harvey E. and Harriet V. Vick Fund, Helen Bader Foundation, Evjue Foundation, the charitable arm of the Capital Times, Wisconsin Humanities Council with funds from the National Endowment for the Humanities, Brewers Community Foundation, Milwaukee Chapter of The Links Incorporated, and Friends of Wisconsin Public Television.

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Vel Phillips

>> On an overcast day in August 1967 200 men, women, and children marched across the 16th Street Viaduct in Milwaukee.

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Vel Phillips

On the other side of the bridge, thousands of white residents were waiting. They shouted racist taunts, hurled firecrackers, rocks, and bodily fluids. Although they were battered and scared, the activists marched again the next night and the next and the next. The marchers demanded what

they believed was a basic right

the freedom to live in any neighborhood regardless of the color of your skin. They called it Open Housing. The public struggle for Open Housing in Milwaukee had started five years earlier, when one woman decided it was time for a change. >> You are aware gentlemen that the eyes of nation, indeed, the eyes of the world, are upon Milwaukee. >> Her name was Vel Phillips. >> It was like, this is my work. >> She did things that were unheard of for her time. >> Vel Phillips was the first African American woman to graduate from the University of Wisconsin Law School. The first African American and first female alderman in Milwaukee. The first African American judge in Wisconsin. The first African American and first female to be elected to statewide executive office in Wisconsin or anywhere in the United States. >> This is huge. It's just remarkable. She surprised a lot of people. >> But for a time, Phillips nearly lost everything that she had worked a lifetime to achieve. >> Big mistake. It was not a wise thing to do. >> Vel Phillips combined a fierce commitment to her principles with an aristocratic grace. And in the end, she forced her city and her country to come closer to the ideals that motivated her life. >> When we measure it all up at the end of the day, Vel Phillips is a great hero. >> My mother would always tell us, "If you really want it, don't dream small dreams, dream big dreams." Well, my name is Vel Phillips. And V-E-L is short for Velvalea. I was named after my aunt in Milwaukee, Wisconsin many years ago. >> Velvalea Hartence Rodgers was born on February 18th, 1924 into Milwaukee's small but growing African American community. She was the middle of three sisters and the daughter of Thelma and Russell Rodgers. >> My father was very gifted. He also was a splendid cook and we had a restaurant for years. >> They're fiercely proud of who they are as African Americans and knowledgeable of African American history in a time where those things are not taught. >> My father was a quiet, strong person. He had to be strong to put up with my mother who was strong. >> Vel's mother, Thelma, had three rules for her daughters. >> She wanted us to be ladies. We couldn't smoke, we couldn't drink, we couldn't talk loud. But she wanted us to be smart. >> As a high school student, Vel entered a national speaking contest and won. Her performance got her a scholarship to the university of her choice. She chose Howard University, the historically black college in Washington, D.C. >> We had always lived in neighborhoods where there weren't many blacks and I was kind of proud of my heritage and I figured that they would all be blacks and all these wonderful, outstanding people. Well, I was just enamored with everything about college. I felt like I owned the world. >> But in 1943, Washington D.C. was still racially segregated. >> A friend of mine said, let's go to the Cherry Blossoms. So we went on this Sunday and it's just, oh, if you never been there, there's nothing to compare. And you just feel ethereal, just magical, and close to God. And so we said, "Well, let's go to church." The two of us went into this church and I'll never forget the minister stopped mid-sentence and asked the ushers to usher us out of the church. >> And then they're escorted out, which is crushing to her. That's a white church. Here in the nation's capital? The betrayal of those core American values that every kid gets instilled in them growing up in America, black or white. >> I just thought, this is not as it should be. And that just sort of lit a fire, you know? >> After graduating from Howard, Vel returned home to Milwaukee and began volunteering at the local branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, the NAACP. One night at a party, she met a World War II veteran named Dale Phillips. >> I was very attracted to him, because he seemed to be a little streetwise, and I didn't know much. >> My daddy was a runaround guy. He had a lot of buddies and they loved to party. >> And he came up to me and said, "Gee, what's your name?" I told him right away. And so he brought out a big thing of liquor. >> Vel remembered her mother's three rules. >> And I thought right then, uh oh! What should I do? I don't want to be naive and stuff. I just said no thank you. Then he took out his cigarettes. I thought, oh God! I had to refuse again. He'll never see me. When I refused the liquor and the cigarettes, I guess he decided, "This is it; this is the woman who I'm going to marry." >> I think when he saw my mom he saw "the one." So he reigned in all of his rascalness. >> When I came home after just seeing him for the first time and said, "I met a young man, Mom, at the party, and I was just drawn to him. If I got to know him, and he asked me to marry him, I'd marry him." She sat right up, she was fanning, "What do you mean? You just saw him one time! Oh, Lord Jesus help me." >> They had a very brief courtship. I think after three or four dates that he popped the question. >> On September 12, 1948, Dale and Vel were married at St. Mark's AME church in Milwaukee. Soon, the newlyweds moved to Madison to attend the University of Wisconsin Law School. >> The NAACP's belief in that period, late forties, early fifties is that the legal route is the way to go. We need more lawyers. >> I was very excited. It was just a wonderful place to be. >> They were assigned to a University housing facility recently created for returning G.I.s and their families, a group of pre-fabricated trailers called Badger Village. >> I was so looking forward to going to Badger Village. It would be the first time we would be by ourselves. >> We went out to look at what it would be like, but people saw us. >> One of their friends who's wife is at a party and what he hears at the party is, "Did you hear? The niggers are moving in." So they put together a petition. >> And they passed off this petition saying, we don't want any blacks in Badger Village. And you have no idea how that affected me. That was quite a shattering experience and it spoiled it for me. >> Badger Village residents shared a central communal bathroom. >> So I said to my husband, "When you go to the bathroom, do you go to the same toilet?" Because I found them talking once, and one said to the other, "She always uses that toilet, so don't go in there." So I said, "Don't use the same one, just change it all around. You know, don't go to the same one all the time." That's when my husband said, "We gotta get out of here." >> My father was a veteran from World War II. It was a segregated military at the time. He was a bit more street smart. >> He's worried about the threat. In many places petition goes to violence very quickly. So whites will try to intimidate you or have a petition and that escalates to something on your lawn, which escalates ultimately to the potential of violence. >> Dale found university housing closer to campus, also in prefabricated trailers, but more welcoming to African Americans. And together, Dale and Vel Phillips became the first African American couple to graduate from the University of Wisconsin Law School. >> I was the first black woman to graduate from the law school. I just thought that was the biggest thing that could happen to me. >> After graduation, they returned to Milwaukee where they opened up their law office, Phillips and Phillips, and were ready to start a family. >> We'd been trying and trying and trying. >> They had had a lot of difficulty. They wanted a family, and they'd almost given up. >> Life for the young couple was busy. In addition to practicing law, Vel Phillips volunteered in her community. She joined the League of Women Voters to register her neighbors to vote, and also went door-to-door in the nearby neighborhood of Bronzeville. >> I had never seen that kind of poverty. They would have the oven on and the door open. That was the heat. The rest of the house would be cold. And then children would be running around, and I thought that was dangerous, really. >> What she saw, when you get behind the doors, the broken down plumbing, the walls coming down, the ceilings coming down, the conditions. >> White supremacy dictates that white people are better and you see that in material circumstances. This is why physical space is really important, whether it's marking separate schools or train cars and things. They're not just separate, but they're inferior. >> The houses might have been in disrepair, but the people weren't in disrepair. They were good people. And they might have been poor, but they were human beings. >> These people are working, these people are paying taxes. It's good old taxation without representation. >> The latest census had revealed a surge in Milwaukee's African American population. With it, a new ward was created and the possibility of an African American alderman on the all-white, all-male Common Council. >> The Common Council in Milwaukee is a very powerful city council. >> And even when you are not able to carry the day on a legislative measure, you have a vocal platform, you're quoted in the paper, so you can put black experience, black interest out there. You can be on record, too. That was just not possible before. >> 1956 would be the first election to include the new ward. >> Doyle Geter, who worked for the Journal, I called him and I said, "Doyle, how many women had been on the council?" He said, "Oh, you're thinking about running?" And I said, "Yes." He said, "Oh, Vel, I wouldn't do it. You just wouldn't fit, you're just too dainty. A lot of men, they smoke and drink." I said, "Well, I don't have to drink to be a good city council person." >> The new 2nd Ward included both black and white neighborhoods. >> Realistically, I think even if you got every African American adult over 21, was the age then, to vote, it wouldn't have been enough. You're going to need some white votes. >> Phillips decided that if she wanted to get elected, she would have to hide that she was black, and that she was a woman. Campaign literature listed her as "Vel" instead of her given name, Velvalea. And in the white areas of the 2nd Ward, Phillips made sure that the campaign literature included no photos of her. >> I mean, I see it as just a savvy, political and strategic decision to win. >> To help get her name out, she turned to Milwaukee's white liberals. >> Vel didn't have that artificial barrier in her head between blacks and whites. She was just able to get along with everybody. That was such an admirable characteristic of hers. >> Her district was half white and half black. I was given the white district and her little card had her name and her background. But in the black district, the cards had her picture. And so I was passing out cards in the white area and some guy said, "How come you don't have her picture on this card?" I said, "Well, we have many different kinds of literature."

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>> One morning during the campaign, Vel got a phone call from her doctor. >> The doctor called me and said I had to come back. I said, "Oh, I'm too busy. Why don't we wait until after the election?" The doctor said that, "It's very important that you come in." I told that to my mother and she started crying. "It's the big C." So when I went in to the doctor I was then convinced it was cancer, so I stood up. He said, "Sit down, Mrs. Phillips." I said, "No. When I'm getting bad news, I like to stand up." He said, "Do you know how to knit?" I said, "What does that have to do with anything?" He said, "Because you're pregnant." "You've got to be kidding!" >> Stunned, Phillips walked back into the waiting room to Dale. >> I said, "Honey, I'm pregnant." He says, "Hug me. Oh, my God, baby, what wonderful news!" But I was almost in tears, because I said, "Now I'll never win." I was so thrilled that I was pregnant, but I was afraid that it would cost me the election. And that really frightened me. >> You're talking, the mid-1950s. Maybe you finally convince them to vote for you as a woman and as an African American, but you as a mother? >> Phillips decided to conceal her pregnancy until after the election. >> Right away I started wearing stuff that would hide it. You know the artists wear those kind of coats? I bought some of those and nobody knew I was pregnant. And I would come home and I would just be worn out. My husband would rub my feet. "Oh, honey, you're doing a wonderful job." >> Still campaigning on Election Day, the Phillips' offered to drive fellow residents to the polls. Vel asked one white couple whom they were planning to vote for. >> The woman said, "We're voting for Vel Phillips." And the man said, "Yes, we think he's very qualified. We think he's a very good candidate." I stopped like that, and my husband said, "Oh, good. We think he's great. You're voting for the right person."

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>> On April 3rd, 1956, Vel Phillips was elected as Milwaukee's first female and first African American alderman. >> Milwaukee was incorporated in 1846 and this was 1956. So it took 110 years. And when I won, the reporter talked to me. She said, "How does it feel to be the first woman on the city council?" I said, "Being on the council is a wonderful thing, but I have something even more important and more meaningful for me, because I'm with child. They won't get just a woman, they'll get a woman and a half." What do we call her? They had a big story about that in the paper. I said, "Oh, my God." And they decided that I should be addressed as "Madame Alderman." They hardly ever did it, number one, and I was glad! I just wanted be an alder man. >> Phillips went to work at City Hall, but her excitement over her historic win was quickly tempered. >> She was treated like a dog by her co-aldermen. >> Phillips was urged by fellow Council members to join the Aldermen's Wives Club. >> I went to the Alderman's Wives, the first meeting. They just talked about baby formula and stuff like that. It was just unbelievable. >> Milwaukee aldermen were required to share offices. Council chairmen Martin Schreiber called Phillips in to talk. >> And then I caught it right away. I said, "And no one wants to be with me." Well, you can tell I wasn't that ugly. He said, "They're afraid to be with you because you are a woman and you're black." I said, "I want my own office. Just put me by myself. If they don't want to be with me, I sure as hell don't want to be with them." But I talked real big about it but it hurt me really deep down. I just thought, why did I even try this? There were many nights when I would let my husband know that I cried myself to sleep. >> When she's treated this way right in front of the whole city, you bet she wasn't involved in the back room discussions. The business is done in the back rooms, and she was not. >> Dale was worried about his wife, and her career. >> We must have some policy about what happens here in the Common Council chambers. I think that students coming down-- I was gonna be on television, and I was excited because I had never been on the television before. So soon as I got home I called my husband, "Did you watch it?" First thing he said, "It was not a pretty picture. You interrupted Schreiber three times, you interrupted Mortier. They just didn't know how to handle it, at all. And you took full advantage."

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But let me tell you, it never happened again. I changed. Talk less and do more. >> Dale was always there to call it as it was. Just an understanding of how things worked, a knowledge of the political animal. >> A brilliant strategist. Brilliant in knowing when to push just this much and not that much more. >> Vel is energetic and sometimes going in several directions at once, so to have that counterbalance, that council that encourages reflection or to take a moment to pause. There's no doubt that he was central to her political career and to her rise and her achievement, her success. >> So she's figuring out, she's spending her time as a good lawyer, reading the rules, how things are done. >> I think I was a quiet force. >> National political leaders began to notice Phillips' talents. In 1958, she was elected to the Democratic National Committee. No black woman had ever served on the committee before. >> This is the executive committee that runs the party nationally, and she's the first African American woman. It's just remarkable. >> By 1960, the Democratic party is inching its way towards Civil Rights. >> The battle for civil rights was becoming a national focus. Earlier that year, college students had staged sit-ins to desegregate lunch counters. Americans watched as the activists were beaten and arrested. >> Televisions are in almost every American home. We start to see people sitting at a lunch counter and just asking to be served. We weren't supposed to be like that. >> By 1960 the movement is in full swing, and it's becoming an increasing problem for those in power and for the nation.

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>> The 1960 presidential election was underway. Phillips went to Los Angeles for the Democratic National Convention, where the party was to nominate Massachusetts senator, John F. Kennedy as its candidate. >> Kennedy himself said, "We've got to get a black face out there."

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"We are going for the African American vote." >> Northern liberals at the Democratic National Convention demanded a strong civil rights plank. >> Kennedy's in a political party that is dominated by Southern, white Democrats who are segregationists, and this is the split in the party. >> --that what you're doing is, in our judgement, making it practically impossible to carry ten states of the Southland in the election of November. >> Senator Spessard Holland, a segregationist from Florida, warned that taking the party too far towards civil rights would doom the Democrats' chance at winning the White House. >> And Democrats, whether you're segregation or not, you want your party to win the presidency 'cause it's power. >> Phillips shot back at the Senator and declared, "Winning isn't nearly so important as doing the right thing." >> She surprised a lot of people that made some people step back and go, whoa! That tiny little woman just said that? She just did that? Yes, she did. Yes, you betcha. >> Two days later the Democratic Party adopted a platform fully committed to civil rights. >> I just felt that this was what was due us and God had seen to it that I was there to do my part. >> Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.

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>> I think there is something in my mom that was perfect for her time. Isn't it what they say is true, that it's the times that make that person? Just the right personality for the moment. >> When Vel Phillips returned to Milwaukee, she focused her energy on her city's own civil right issues. >> It was pretty bad in Milwaukee. Milwaukee was considered one of the more segregated cities in the whole United States. >> We had problems that we had to solve and we had to do it right and we had to do it the right way. >> Housing segregation kept Milwaukee's growing African American community confined inside the center city known as the Inner Core. African American residents were barred from buying homes in the city's more prosperous neighborhoods and suburbs. >> We tried to move. You know, I had been told flat out, several times, "Oh, you can't buy a house in that area because you're a Negro." >> You can concede desegregation in these public spheres, work, school. But your home and the neighborhood around that, that's where a lot of white folks draw the line. >> I remember when the first black family moved into Wauwatosa. There was a cross burned on the lawn. >> Segregation is such an insidious affair. These are the things that strike you every day, right? It's the things that assault your senses. >> As an alderman, Phillips was in a position to devise an Open Housing ordinance to combat Milwaukee's segregation policies. But she knew that the chance of it passing would be remote. >> She represents women, she represents African Americans. The community doesn't have the wealth, the power, the access, the media, to have voice, to push back, to get a fair hearing. And she's the only person in that formal position. >> What's the right thing to do? That was really her focus. >> And I could see how segregated we were. It just wasn't the way it should be. >> In 1962, Phillips submitted to the Milwaukee Common Council a landmark ordinance. "It is to be the policy of the City of Milwaukee to assure equal opportunity to all persons to live in decent housing facilities regardless of race, color, or national origin." >> She introduced the Fair Housing law and got one vote, hers. >> Over five years, Phillips introduced her Open Housing ordinance with the same result. >> The committee has chosen, as it has done previously to reject the ordinance unanimously. With that-- >> I wanted to cry, really, but I thought that would not work. I was the alderman. >> At the same time, her constituents fought other battles, against job discrimination, segregated schools, and whites-only clubs. But housing discrimination was at the top of their list. Five years of trying to pass Open Housing bills in the Common Council had failed, and in 1967, Vel Phillips' constituents looked for another strategy.

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>> And so we said, let's go to the belly of the beast. That's when the issue really blew up.

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>> In August 1967, 200 activists marched across the 16th Street Viaduct in Milwaukee demanding the right to live in any neighborhood in the city. Among them the NAACP Youth Council, Father James Groppi, a Catholic priest, and the Commandos, a self-defense group from the Inner Core. >> You march across that bridge and on the opposite side there is a mass of white people, angry white people, letting you know that you're in the wrong part of town at the wrong time of day. >> Residents hurled bricks, bodily fluids, and racial slurs. >> The size of the crowds is mind blowing. And it's just so vicious and violent and ugly. It's hard to minimize it. >> Police began throwing tear gas and creating dense plumes of smoke. It was just mayhem and pandemonium. At that point, I thought to myself, this is absolutely nuts.

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>> Vel Phillips was not among the marchers. She watched the confrontation from home on the nightly news. >> It was stunning. It was horrible. >> The next day, Milwaukee mayor, Henry Maier tried to restore order. >> And I urge those who live in the area of march to please stay off the streets. >> I came home from city hall and I just sat down and I just had a good cry. >> Vel needed the marchers. She needed coverage to put pressure on the Common Council to pass an ordinance. >> With the ban on marches in place, Phillips was back to where she began in 1962. >> We were so disillusioned. >> She joined Father Groppi and other Open Housing activists for a rally at St. Boniface Parish. >> This was a large church, it probably sat 1,000 people. And it was packed, standing room only. >> Speaking to the crowd, Father Groppi asked if they were ready to march. The crowd shouted its approval.

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But Phillips hesitated. She was a lawyer and an officer of the court. If she marched in the face of the ban, she would be in full defiance of the law. >> Now, the line has been drawn. You either have to be this side and support them, or you're not. And it's very, very violent out there in the streets. And being in her position of power, she's this official member of the Common Council, she's a part of the middle class black leadership, it would have been easy for her to not go down into the street. It would have been defended and justified by a whole lot of powerful people. >> But I was fed up at that time. >> Despite the fear and despite the counsel from some very close to her, she makes a different choice. Which shows that she has gone to a very different place than many other black middle class leaders have. >> Because it was for my fair housing, I felt nothing was going to stop us. >> Vel Phillips, Father Groppi, and the rest of the crowd defied the mayor's edict and took to the street. >> The decision was made to march. St. Boniface was on 11th and Clark. We got as far as 9th and North Avenue, so that's about six blocks. And the police closed in and started to arrest people. Vel Phillips was one of the first arrested. >> And they treated you like you weren't a real person. Feeling all over you when they patted you down. It was just demoralizing. >> Phillips was released the next morning, but her mother, Thelma, was not happy with her daughter's jail time. >> Oh, gosh! She was embarrassed. "What will I tell my friends?" I said, "Mom, just tell your friends that your daughter is doing what she thinks is best in her capacity as a member of the Milwaukee Common Council." >> She marched again that night. >> I think that's when she got a reputation for being very brave, and tough. >> The white community became increasingly violent. >> For the most part, there was a backlash. "How dare they do this to our city." >> Everyone in official power starts to say, "This is not acceptable. We can't have this." They're forced into that position because these images are going, not just in Milwaukee but they're going across the country. It's an embarrassment to the city. >> The Open Housing activists kept up the pressure. >> The idea among a lot of young people, myself included, was we're going to make the world better.

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>> It was a close-knit feeling. We all looked after each other. >> If you look at the pictures of the time and the look on her face, you can see a sense of belonging. >> She had fought this lonely crusade for a long time and there was something that was welcome to her. There's a sense of connectivity, a sense of being a part of the struggle. >> I was trying to figure out how I really felt. It was like, this is my work. >> In September, after two weeks of daily marches, the Common Council again voted 18-1 against the Open Housing ordinance. Phillips had run out of patience. >> It's quite apparent to me that the members of this honorable body, to put it in the terms of my Commando friends, these cats are just too dumb, just too dumb to know when they have something going for them. It's bad enough to have to deal with a bigot, but when you got a dumb bigot--

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>> While Vel Phillips remained on the front lines of the housing protests, her husband Dale kept the home running, cooking, cleaning, and raising their two boys. >> My father, in some ways, was an early Mr. Mom. >> He always did floors, whatever cooking, whatever was necessary. He wasn't hung up on "roles." He was just a solid Midwest guy. >> He was very secure. He was a good lawyer. He didn't feel that he was competing. He knew that I loved what I was doing and he wanted me to be happy. >> They're, I think, truly a team in a real sense. A lot of these teams, the man is the person of power and it's the supportive woman, you know, Coretta King or Malcolm X's wife. And here we have the woman being the one who's out front and achieving the power and the position and things with a very supportive husband. >> The growing media exposure brought unwanted attention to Vel's home. There were phone calls. >> This man, he would call and say, "I'm watching you. I think black people like yourself should go back to Africa were you came from." It was scary, you know, and I wondered if we should get some guards or something. >> She received hate-filled letters. >> This letter said, "P.S. If you see a brown streaks that's because I used this for toilet paper before I sent it to you." I had it in my hand, and I just dropped it like that. >> Then a shot was fired into her kitchen. >> The bullet landed right in the middle of the oven door. >> When a bullet comes through a window in your home, she could have said, I'm done. Who's gonna blame her? That's threatening on a whole different level. You could become a crusading leader and be willing to die for the cause and nothing will deter you. But if we say we're gonna go kill your kids, that's an act of terror that happened there. >> Things were really dangerous. That's when I sent the children to my mother. She was living in California at the time. They'd say, Michael especially, "Momma, why don't you come to California?" Just such a sad time. >> The Open Housing marches went on for 200 days, continuing into early 1968. >> There was a core people who were there night after night. >> To come everyday like clockwork, like it was a job for over 200 days. This little white man, he said, "I'm very confused. What is it that you people want?" I said, "Just say America is a big pie. We want a piece of the pie. We want a piece of America." He look stunned, and he said, "That's all?" I said, "Well, that's a great deal if you don't have it." >> On April 4th, 1968, the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated. Soon after, President Lyndon Johnson and Congress passed the Civil Rights Act of 1968. It included legislation that for the first time specifically outlawed housing segregation. >> Milwaukee is critically important to the passage of that national civil rights act of 1968, the Fair Housing Act. Walter Mondale cites from the Senate floor, Milwaukee as an important case of how important the issue is and the need for change. >> In response to the new Federal law, Milwaukee's Common Council approved a citywide Open Housing ordinance. Six years after she first introduced the ordinance, Alderman Phillips had finally won. >> Of course, it was just mind boggling and wonderful to know that we really had it. >> These are heroes. Milwaukee heroes, Wisconsin heroes, and American heroes, that deserve their place in the national narrative. If we care about justice and equality, all of us should embrace Vel, Father Groppi, the youth council, the Commandos, and everyone who came out to support that. >> My mother would always tell us, "If you really want it, don't dream small dreams. Dream big dreams." >> In 1971, Vel Phillips got a call from Governor Patrick Lucey. >> When I got elected governor, I wanted to build as much support as I could in the black community. And when I would go to a black church and have Vel Phillips with me, it really set the stage very nicely for my having a favorable reception. >> Governor Lucey asked Phillips if she would accept an appointment as a children's court judge. >> Oh, yeah. I was surprised. He called and he said, "There's going to be an opening and I want you to be the first black." >> In larger black communities we had it was important to have a sitting judge who was black and the fact that she was a woman was an additional advantage. >> I just thought that I would have a chance to help shape someone's life, to really make a difference. >> Phillips left her seat on the Milwaukee Common Council after 15 years of service and became the first African American judge in Wisconsin history. >> I shall remember, for a very long time, this morning. Because I am sure that there will be many times when remembering your good faith, your confidence in my ability, and your sincere wishes for my success, will be like water to a thirsty traveler.

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: I loved being in children's court. I loved it. >> As a children's court judge, Phillips focused her attention on the issues facing African American families. >> A disproportionate number of African American kids coming before her because they're disproportionately poor. She knew the family was important. >> On the bench, Phillips saw families torn apart by crisis. In 1974, her family faced a crisis of its own, when her eldest son, Dale Jr. was diagnosed with schizophrenia. >> You say to yourself, did I do something wrong? >> The truth of mental illness in a family situation, it's a shattering. He was a paranoid schizophrenic. He didn't trust. That mistrust, it hit my father like a hammer blow. >> My husband didn't really understand. He thought that if we found out that Dale was having some mental problems, we'd call the doctor, and we'd get his medication and everything, and then he's okay. And it wasn't quite like that, you know, and that was hard. I cry when I think about it, because we didn't know how to deal with it. Oh, it was a difficult time. It was a difficult time. >> I think it separated my parents a certain degree. I know that my father probably dove into work more. My mom was, she's never carried a lot of weight, but I think during this period, she was even thinner. It was a very trying time. It wouldn't surprise me if my mother looked to a job in Madison as sort of break from some of that. >> This is Vel Phillips, a remarkable woman and dedicated, experienced public servant for 30 years. >> In 1978, Phillips decided to run for Wisconsin Secretary of State. >> I think campaigning is hard. Really hard. >> On September 12th, she beat eight other primary candidates, winning by almost double the votes of the nearest contender and gaining the Democratic nomination. >> I think it's endurance and able to stay positive. >> In the general election, in an increasingly conservative political environment, Phillips was forced to outspend her opponents. >> My husband said, "Your daddy is here to help you. What do you want your daddy to do?" I said, "Money." I would appreciate your vote on Tuesday, November 7th. >> Vote Vel Phillips for Secretary of State.

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>> On November 7th, 1978, Vel Phillips was elected Wisconsin's Secretary of State, becoming the first African American to be elected to statewide office in Wisconsin and the first African American woman to be elected to any statewide executive office in American history. >> She was in succession to fill in as governor. When she talks, it's just hilarious, she giggles, about the time when the governor and the lieutenant governor left the state, and she realized "I'm acting governor." Somebody tipped off the media to do a story on it. And as she says, "The men came rushing back." The governor and lieutenant governor said, "We can't let that happen." >> When Ebony magazine asked her about a possible run for governor Phillips responded, "No politician worth their salt would close the door on that." As Secretary of State, Phillips continued her work for civil rights and women's equality. >> When people would say, "What's hardest, being the first woman or the first black?" When I really think about it, very often there are times when they do forget that I'm a black person, but they never forget that I'm a woman. >> Community groups across Wisconsin invited her to speak at their events. Sometimes she would be paid to appear. >> Before I became Secretary of State I would say, how about $50 or $25. It would always be some very minor thing, then I could give it a black church. It was a pittance and I thought I was in the position where I could demand more. >> As Secretary of State, Phillips often requested speaking fees higher than the state ethics board advised. In 1981, she was accused of numerous ethics violations, and ultimately was required to pay back more than $8,000. >> The question of accepting honoraria, you can legally do it during your term and deposit the money as campaign money. But taking it as personal money, that's something else. You're using a public office for personal gain. That's really the distinction. That got Vel into trouble. >> Big mistake. It was not a wise thing to do. And of course, the papers blew it up. >> Well, she's trying to rewrite state laws for her benefit. It's pretty clear, but state laws are state laws. They apply equally whether you're male, female, black, white, Asian. We all have to abide by the same laws. >> But of course, there were people who didn't like me for whatever I did. >> This time, Dale could not help her. >> He thought if anything that caused a furor that I should not do it, it's not worth it. I never liked to lose, but I understood. >> She accepted the results with real sadness. She just sort of pulled into herself. >> Her political career in ruins, Phillips returned to Milwaukee. >> In '82, my dad still at the firm, but the family had really-- had sort of scattered. >> Vel decided to focus more attention on her family. >> We made a little pact that one Sunday a month I wouldn't speak. I wouldn't be at this church or this or that. And we would just relax, have breakfast in bed and just cool it. And those were wonderful Sundays. >> There was some recovery happening at the time. My brother, he had a doctor and he was on medication. I'd just left the house, moved out west, joined the military. Left my dad so he could spend some time, play some golf, enjoy his wife who was no longer working. It's sort of an awakening. They were able to enjoy themselves. When my first son was born in '84, my father and my mom came out to visit. And it was the happiest that I had seen my father maybe in ten years, you know? He was just overjoyed, he couldn't get enough. It was good to see him that way. >> In 1988, a seat opened up in the U.S. House of Representatives. Vel and Dale began to explore the possibility of Vel running for Congress. >> I was gonna run for the Congress. I had a meeting at my house which several people were there. My husband said, "Honey, you'd be perfect for it." And I think I would've won, but then right before I got into it, Dale died and I just-- >> On April 14th 1988, Dale suffered a sudden heart attack. >> I just fell apart. It was such a low time in my life because we were very close. >> Unable to speak at her husband's funeral, Vel expressed her grief in writing. "Dale, you have been so many things to me. My love, my severest critic, my biggest fan. How can I go on without you?" Phillips abandoned her Congressional run, never to serve in an elected office again. >> It was just like a half of me just gone and I just couldn't hang with that. I didn't have the same zest without him. >> She's just never the same. She shut down for a year. >> I do recall when he passed away that she kind of went into a shell. Because they were such partners, you know, really. She had lost part of herself when Dale passed. >> She's been a different person since then. It's been two different lives, I think, for her. Her life with my father and her life after my dad. >> Vel Phillips gradually returned to her work. She joined the Community Brainstorming Conference, a group of Milwaukee activists that addressed issues including high school dropout rates and police brutality. >> Actually, I think that people who were baptized in the protest movement of the 1960s, that's still a motivator for them. >> She created the Vel Phillips Foundation, to give high school students a chance to improve their lives through higher education. In 2004, Phillips returned to the political arena, serving as the honorary chair for the congressional campaign of Gwen Moore, the first African American to serve Wisconsin in the U.S. House of Representatives. >> You make sure that your gains, that you have fought so hard for and that others have fought for with you, are not lost. That somebody will still have that voice. >> Vel's always been a fighter. Today, in her own way, Vel is still fighting to bring about equity and justice. >> Her work in the community was sometimes on a personal, one-on-one level, including her advocacy for an elderly autistic man named Glen Schneider. >> He goes to a black church, that's how I met him. >> The pastor at St. Mark asked my mom to help him out. She has always, always fought for the underprivileged, for those who couldn't fight for themselves. She has always been their voice. There is definitely a connection in her for Glen. >> So if you would join me in welcoming Ms. Vel Phillips.

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She was the face of

>> She continues to be amazingly active in the community, and I think that longevity says a lot. >> Being in Wisconsin, I'm reminded of my race every day. Sometimes it's discouraging, but a lot of times I think of Vel and the obstacles that she had to overcome. That's motivation for me.

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She was the face of

>> I tell you one thing, she's a lovely woman. She's somebody that, I think, is respected by not only people here in Milwaukee, but she is respected by people all over the world. >> When we measure it all up at the end of the day, Vel Phillips is a great hero. >> She's the phoenix. She just keeps on, and it's a beautiful model for life, I believe. >> God has been very good to me. But hey, I couldn't have done it without a lot of good people. I don't think whatever I did was such a great deal, but it was breaking ground in many areas. I just felt that there must be a reason why I should be in this place at this time. It's been a pretty good ride. To purchase a copy of

Vel Phillips

Dream Big Dreams visit wpt.org or call 800-422-9707. >> Dream Big Dreams is funded in part by the Greater Milwaukee Foundation, Harvey E. and Harriet V. Vick Fund, Helen Bader Foundation, Evjue Foundation, the charitable arm of the Capital Times, Wisconsin Humanities Council with funds from the National Endowment for the Humanities, Brewers Community Foundation, Milwaukee Chapter of The Links Incorporated, and Friends of Wisconsin Public Television.