A former student has asked the school district to rename James Madison Memorial High School for former Wisconsin Secretary of State Velvalea “Vel” Phillips.
School Board President Glorida Reyes announced Monday night the opening of a 30-day window during which other proposals may be submitted.
A dozen community members will be selected next month to serve on an Ad Hoc Renaming Committee.
Former student Mya Berry says the school shouldn’t be named for the former president because he owned more than 100 slaves and supported the Three-Fifths Compromise which meant slaves would be counted as three-fifths of a person for the purpose of assigning congressional representatives and for taxation.
Vel Phillips was the first Black woman to graduate from the University of Wisconsin-Madison Law School and the first Black woman elected to statewide office.
