James Madison Memorial High School in Madison renamed after Vel Phillips

Madison’s James Madison Memorial High School will no longer carry the name of the president who enslaved more than 100 people. Instead, it will honor Vel Phillips, the first Black person elected to a statewide office in Wisconsin.

The decision by the Madison School Board followed a months-long process by an ad hoc naming committee with student and staff representation from the school, who had considered dozens of proposals from community members. 

Committee and board members said it was important for the new name, Vel Phillips Memorial High School, to retain the word “Memorial,” as it can remain in use as shorthand for the school community and may not need to be removed from certain signage or logos that only use that word. 

In Monday’s school board meeting, Ali Muldrow, president of the Madison Metropolitan School District Board of Education, thanked former student Mya Berry for proposing the name change. 

“When we acknowledge the history that Vel Phillips carved for our state in terms of allowing women of color to see themselves in positions of leadership that they had never been in before, I hope that the students of Memorial… see the name of their school as evidence that it only takes one person to shift the way we as a society work and who gets to be at the table,” Mudrow said.

Berry had been advocating for changing the name for years, launching a Change.org petition four years ago that garnered more than 1,700 signatures. Berry noted feeling unsafe at the school, being called racial slurs and threatened with lynching, among other racist incidents.

"Madison was a person that benefited off of the exploitation of Black bodies, and those who embarked in such acts of racism should have no influence in today’s culture," Berry wrote in a proposal for the board last year, continuing: "Being in an institution that perpetuates an anti-Black culture is not conducive for the success of Black students, and therefore hinders the school overall."

While board members noted there was wide community support for removing the James Madison name, there was more debate about which name should replace it. 

Other top options included: Bruce Dahmen Memorial, named for a former principal of the school; Darlene Hancock Memorial, named for Madison's first Black female principal; or just "Memorial." 

Ultimately, board members voted unanimously for the Vel Phillips name, following the recommendation of the ad hoc committee. 

“Vel Phillips offers more conversation in our community to offer more insight and elaboration about who we are as a community," said Nama Pandley, the student member of the board. “This is a great opportunity for students to know more about Black leaders in our community.” 

Phillips, who died in 2018, will also be remembered with a statue recently approved for construction outside the state Capitol building — characterized as the first statue of an African American woman at any state capitol in the U.S. 

Phillips was the first Black woman to graduate from UW Law School, win election to the Milwaukee Common Council and serve as a judge for Milwaukee County. She also was the first woman and first Black person to win a statewide election when she became secretary of state. 

While on the Common Council in 1962, Phillips introduced an ordinance to ban housing discrimination. After it was voted down 18-1, she tried reintroducing the proposal over the years, eventually linking in 1967 with the local NAACP Youth Council, who marched for fair housing over 200 nights under violent attacks. Phillips was arrested for violating the mayor's ban on marches. 

The Milwaukee Common Council approved a fair housing ordinance in 1968, shortly after the national Fair Housing Act passed. 

A school in Sheboygan, James Madison Elementary, as well as other schools outside Wisconsin still bear the Madison name — as well as the city of Madison itself. 

Contact Rory Linnane at rory.linnane@jrn.com. Follow her on Twitter at @RoryLinnane.