Alverno College to Host Screening of Vel Phillips Documentary

March 23, 2015

Alverno College will host a screening of the documentary Vel Phillips: Dream Big Dreams on April 16 at 7 p.m.. The event will take place in Pitman Theatre, and is free and open to the public.

Phillips, who was the first woman and the first African American to ever sit on Milwaukee's Common Council, will be in attendance. The documentary, produced by Wisconsin Public Television, examines her pioneering political career and her extensive civil rights advocacy. Phillips' story is told through interviews with family and friends, including Hall of Fame baseball player Henry Aaron, former Wisconsin Governor Patrick Lucey, Phillips' son Michael Phillips, and Phillips herself. The film explores how she rose to become one of the state's most prominent civil rights leaders, and later becoming Wisconsin Secretary of State, making her the first African American woman elected to executive state office in the United States.

Phillips will take part in a talk back after the film, along with Margaret Rozga, wife of the late civil rights activist James Groppi. The screening is part of a statewide engagement project bringing communities together to discuss race relations in the 21st century. To learn more about the statewide project, please visit wpt.org/VelPhillips. To learn more about other events on the Alverno College campus related to social justice, please visit http://www.alverno.edu/socialjustice/.

While there is no cost to attend the screening, participants are asked to preregister at Alverno.edu/socialjustice.