In late June, Milwaukee officially honored civil rights leader Velvalea “Vel” R. Phillips with a gathering space running along Vel R. Phillips Avenue and Wisconsin Avenue in downtown Milwaukee.
The area, now known as Vel R. Phillips Plaza, used to be an empty surface parking lot. Now, it will be home to informational kiosks, access to public transit and food and beverage vending, in order to establish the place as a public gathering place.
The plaza is also across from the city’s convention center, a true gathering place for those visiting and living in Milwaukee, according to City Commissioner Lafayette Crump.
“And it’s important that as people gather, they also have this connection to our recent past and to the inspiration that Mrs. Phillips and her history bring,” Crump said.
In 1951, Phillips became the first Black woman to graduate from the University of Wisconsin-Madison Law School, the first Black woman elected to the Democratic National Committee in 1958, and in 1978, Philips became the first woman and the first Black person to be elected to a statewide office in Wisconsin: the secretary of state.
Philips is also credited with being the first woman and first Black person on the Milwaukee Common Council. In 1971, she became the first female judge in Milwaukee County and the state’s first Black judge.
The plaza will also feature a mural honoring Phillips, one of Wisconsin’s greatest civil rights leaders. This fall, the City of Milwaukee’s Department of City Development will meet with the three selected artists to choose one team to create the mural, Crump said.
The city will ultimately be in charge of the area and its upkeep. Crump said since the plaza is at the intersection of the Business Improvement District 21 and Westown BID, he thinks there will be opportunities for the city to partner with these organizations to make sure the plaza remains “a truly beautiful place.”
Stacie Callies, the executive director of the Westown BID, said in an email statement to Madison365 that the plaza will improve the pedestrian experience when walking in the West Wisconsin Avenue area as the plaza connects the businesses on either side better than the vacant lot beforehand.
“Now walking from the 3rd Street Market Hall west to the Hilton Hotel or the Baird Center feels much more natural,” Callies said in her email.
Johnson said the area can serve as a place to celebrate, but also a place for people to protest if they are unhappy about something in the city.
“These are spots, basically public living rooms, where people can participate in the public discourse, and that’s important in a city like ours,” Johnson said.
Phillips, in addition to being a woman of many firsts, was an important civil rights activist in the city, specifically when it came to the fight for fair housing in Milwaukee. According to the Wisconsin Historical Society, Phillips, along with Father James Groppi, led protesters in a march from what was known as the Inner Core to the 16th Street Bridge.
“So it’s only fitting that we have a tribute to all that her life meant right in the heart of downtown Milwaukee,” Crump said. “But also a tribute to those who are following in her footsteps, and as a sign of inspiration for others to take up her mantle.”
Johnson said the developments at the plaza are just one part of his long-term desire for the city to have more public places. He said there are other projects across the city with the same goal in mind, such as Ivanhoe Plaza on Milwaukee’s East Side and projects happening on Milwaukee’s South Side.
“There is momentum for this sort of activity to happen moreso in the City of Milwaukee,” Johnson said.
Johnson and Crump said they wanted residents to understand that these spaces are there for them to utilize and that simply utilizing the space is a way for them to maintain the area.
“We know when people come down and experience a place and utilize it, then there’s more respect that goes into it,” Johnson said.