The Wisconsin Capitol grounds are one step closer to featuring a statue of longtime Wisconsin civil rights advocate Vel Phillips after a subcommittee voted on a preliminary proposal Tuesday.
Phillips was a political trailblazer throughout her life, achieving many firsts, from being the first Black woman to graduate from the University of Wisconsin-Madison Law School to becoming the first woman and Black person elected to statewide office when she won a race for Secretary of State in 1978. She died in 2018 at age 94.