Valiant Vel: Vel Phillips and the Fight for Fairness and Equality

This illustrated biography follows Vel Phillips from encounters with racial discrimination in childhood to her goal of becoming a lawyer and her later public work. Phillips served on Milwaukee’s Common Council, became Wisconsin’s first Black judge, and later won statewide office as secretary of state. Her civil-rights efforts included organizing for fair housing in Milwaukee during the 1960s, working with the NAACP Youth Council and marching despite violent opposition. Photographs and illustrations accompany her story.