Walking with a child downtown to a game or a show or the 3rd St. Market Hall, you may pass the Vel R. Phillips Plaza at North Fourth Street and West Wisconsin Avenue and be asked, who was Vel Phillips?

A new biography for young readers can help you answer that question.

“Valiant Vel: Vel Phillips and the Fight for Fairness and Equality” (Wisconsin Historical Society Press) recounts the life of a Milwaukee civil rights activist and public servant who was the first woman and first Black person on the Milwaukee Common Council, first female judge in Milwaukee County and first Black woman elected to statewide public office in Wisconsin.

Writer Jerrianne Hayslett’s biography is aimed at readers 11 and older. It has some of the didactic tone and features suitable for classroom use, but her bio also would serve as a good introduction to Phillips for curious adults. There’s plenty of detail here. Also, Hayslett directly interviewed such important figures in Phillips’ story as Prentice McKinney, Gwen Moore and Margaret Rozga.

Hayslett begins with a revealing story drawn from an unpublished memoir by Phillips (1924-2018). As one of the few Black students at North Division High School in 1939, Phillips wanted to participate in the serious oratory portion of a speech contest. But the white forensics teacher rejected that, trying to push Phillips into humorous narrative as “something that fits your people.” Controversy and a petition followed. Delivering a serious oration she wrote herself, Phillips ultimately won the contest.

“Valiant Vel” concentrates on two overlapping stories: Phillips’ long struggle to get the Milwaukee Common Council to pass a fair housing ordinance, and the 200 nights of open housing marches in Milwaukee in 1967-’68, in which she frequently participated.

It was not inevitable that those efforts would succeed. Hayslett details the persistence and courage that Phillips displayed in continuing to press her case. “Research” was Phillips’ superpower, Hayslett declares, a point that teachers using this book in the classroom will no doubt underline.

Phillips’ husband Dale emerges here as a quiet supporting hero. The money he secretly saved to buy her a mink coat became the funds she spent to win her first aldermanic election. He worried about her safety, too, absenting himself from home one night when the open housing marches began, knowing that she would not leave their children home alone. Hayslett has dedicated the book to him.

“Valiant Vel” is lavishly illustrated in two ways: the warm artwork of Milwaukee artist Aaron Boyd, and a large selection of historical photos.

IF YOU GO

Writer Jerrianne Hayslett and illustrator Aaron Boyd will speak at several events promoting “Valiant Vel”:

1 p.m. Feb. 15, Milwaukee Public Library Centennial Loos Room, 733 N. Eighth St. Register for this free event at mpl.libnet.info/event/12719550.

5:30 p.m. Feb. 17, Bronzeville Center for the Arts, 507 W. North Ave.