Common Council votes to rename 4th Street in Milwaukee Vel Phillips Avenue

MILWAUKEE -- The Milwaukee Common Council's Public Works Committee on Wednesday, April 25 voted to rename 4th Street in Milwaukee "Vel Phillips Avenue."

The name change would take effect from St. Paul to Capitol Drive.

Phillips, a civil rights leader in Milwaukee, had a long list of accomplishments. She was the first black woman to graduate from the University of Wisconsin Law School and became the first black member of the Common Council, and the first woman, white or black, to serve as Wisconsin's secretary of state.

Phillips died on April 17 at the age of 94.