Rep. Supreme Moore Omokunde said Black History Month is about recognizing the history people should be learning year round. Screenshot via WisEye.

The Wisconsin Assembly unanimously passed a resolution Tuesday recognizing February as Black History Month without significant roadblocks or delays for the first time in many years. 

“I’m so glad that we are finally able to bring this bipartisan effort to the floor of the Assembly without all of the challenges that we’ve had before,” Rep. Supreme Moore Omokunde (D-Milwaukee) said.

Black History Month resolutions have faced pushback from Republican lawmakers in previous years. Issues started in 2019 when the resolution included Colin Kapaernick, the Wisconsin-native former NFL player that knelt during the national anthem to protest police violence. In 2021, Republicans rejected a resolution due to the individuals included. A Republican resolution, which was written without the support of  the Legislative Black Caucus, was passed in 2022 without Democratic support. A resolution passed in 2023 declaring February Black History Month — but did not receive a vote until March, and no resolution passed in 2024.

Moore Omokunde said the month is about recognizing the Black history that people should learn year round, not just for one month.

The resolution acknowledges that enslaved Africans were first brought to Virginia over 400 years ago and acknowledges the history of Black History Month, which has its roots in Carter G. Woodson’s “Negro History Week” established in 1926. 

The resolution recognizes 14 Black Americans, including several Wisconsinites. They include Elisterine Clayton, a 100-year-old Milwaukee resident who helped build one of the longest-standing Black residential neighborhood, Halyard Park; Paul Higginbotham, the first African-American judge to serve on the Wisconsin Court of Appeals; Marcia Anderson, a retired senior officer of the United States Army Reserve from Beloit, Wisconsin, who was the first Black woman to become a major general; Anthony McGahee, a Milwaukee gospel musician and choir director, and Shakita LaGrant-McClain, the executive director of the Milwaukee County Department of Health and Human Services.

An amendment to the resolution removed Samuel Coleman, who is currently serving as the assistant superintendent of instruction for the Oshkosh Area School District, from those being recognized. In 2022, Coleman was part of a controversy related to text messages he sent about white people while employed at another Wisconsin school district. The office of Rep. Kalan Haywood — who authored the amendment — hasn’t responded to a request for more information.

Rep. Sequanna Taylor (D-Milwaukee) said that Black history is American history. 

“It is woven into every fabric of this nation — building and shaping this nation, the economy of this nation and the progress of this nation,” Taylor said. “From the resilience of those who fought against oppression, to the brilliance of those who have shaped our industries, science and art, Black Americans have been at the heart of every chapter of this nation’s story.”

“[Black history] did not start with slavery and it does not end with the cutting of DEI,” Taylor said. 

Diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) efforts have been targeted by the state and federal lawmakers over the last several years. While the new Trump administration issued a proclamation declaring February Black History Month, he also signed an executive order in January to end DEI efforts. The move led the Wisconsin Department of Military Affairs to remove web pages related to DEI. The U.S. Defense Department has also declared “identity months dead.” Republican lawmakers in Wisconsin have also been taking actions with the goal of eliminating DEI initiatives throughout the University of Wisconsin System and other state agencies. 

Taylor recognized her colleagues in the Legislative Black Caucus, including Sen. LaTonya Johnson (D-Milwaukee), Sen. Dora Drake (D-Milwaukee), Rep. Kalan Haywood (D-Milwaukee), Rep. Darrin Madison (D-Milwaukee) and Rep. Margaret Arney (D-Wauwatosa), for their work. 

“Black history is alive in the work we do today in the fight for equity in the demand for fair policies and the commitment to ensure that future generations inherit a nation that truly lives up to its promise of liberty and justice,” Taylor said.

“Her life and work has impacted countless Wisconsinites, so much so that all Wisconsin students should know about and recognize her,” Rep. Supreme Moore Omokunde said. Screenshot via WisEye.

The Legislative Black Caucus proposed Tuesday that Wisconsin make Vel Phillips’ birthday — Feb. 18 — a special day of observance in Wisconsin schools. 

Rep. Supreme Moore Omokunde (D-Milwaukee), a bill coauthor, recognized Phillips’ lengthy list of ‘firsts’ at a press conference Tuesday morning, saying that “far too few” Wisconsinites know about her legacy. 

Phillips was Wisconsin’s first Black statewide elected official, serving as secretary of state from 1979 to 1983. She also served as Wisconsin’s first Black judge and the first woman judge in Milwaukee County and was the first Black woman to graduate from University of Wisconsin Law School.

Phillips was the first African American and the first woman to be elected as a Milwaukee Common Council alder. She was an activist who advocated fair and affordable housing in Milwaukee, including introducing the Phillips Housing Ordinance in 1962, which would have outlawed racial discrimination among landlords and real estate agents in Milwaukee. The Milwaukee Common Council finally adopted an open housing ordinance in April 1968 after the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated and the U.S. Congress passed the Fair Housing Act of 1968. 

Phillips passed away on April 17, 2018. Her 101st birthday was Tuesday. 

“Her life and work has impacted countless Wisconsinites, so much so that all Wisconsin students should know about and recognize her,” Moore Omokunde said.

Sen. LaTonya Johnson (D-Milwaukee) said at a press conference that Phillips “wasn’t just a leader. She was a force of nature. She refused to accept the limits placed on her as an African American woman and as a woman in general, and she made sure that no one coming after her had to suffer those barriers,” Johnson said. “Milwaukee is the city that it is today in part due to Vel Phillips.

“She wasn’t just making history. She was paving the way for the rest of us — for Black women in Wisconsin who still face barriers, for girls who need to see what’s possible and for every person who has ever been told to wait their turn,” Johnson said. “That’s what this bill is about — ensuring Vel Phillips’ story is told for generations to come. Making Feb. 18 a special observance day isn’t just about remembering Vel Phillips. It’s about teaching our kids what she stood for, making sure her name, her fight, her legacy lives on.” 

There are 21 special observance days in Wisconsin’s school calendar, including Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, Susan B. Anthony’s birthday, Environmental Awareness Day, Bullying Awareness Day, September 11 Observance Day, Veterans Day and Robert La Follette Sr. Day.

The Department of Public Instruction (DPI) states on its website that observance days can “teach the elements of tradition that preserve U.S. society and foster an awareness of our cultural heritage” and “can be part of a rich social studies curriculum that gives these individuals and events proper emphasis, both in the context of Wisconsin and U.S. history and in relation to their effect on or improvement of our political, economic and social institutions.” 

Mikki Maddox, a teacher at Necedah Area High School, is part of the reason the caucus brought the legislation forward. She said she started doing announcements for the school and marking the observance days in her calendar. 

“I noticed that there are quite a few gaps,” Maddox said, adding that she contacted DPI and wrote to Senate and Assembly members about observance days. 

“I knew this was a person that needed to be recognized all over the state for her courage and for her willingness to stand up,” Maddox said. 

Secretary of State Sarah Godlewski honored her predecessor at the press conference, recalling that she learned about Phillips in school only after taking her own initiative to look for women important to Wisconsin history and coming across her in a textbook.

“As Wisconsin’s secretary of state I stand on Vel’s shoulders. … She is a trailblazer and Wisconsin is better because of Vel’s leadership,” Godlewski said. “Too many students [are] just like the one that I was sitting in the classroom flipping through my history books and not seeing that full picture of who actually shaped our state.” 

The bill, Godlewski said, would ensure “every student learns about her, not just as an afterthought, but as a fundamental part of our state history.” 

The bill, which is currently being circulated for co-sponsorship, will need bipartisan support to pass in the Republican-controlled Legislature. Moore Omokunde said he doesn’t think recent hostility towards diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) efforts from Republicans will hinder it, adding that many observances of Phillips already exist throughout Wisconsin. An outdoor statue of Phillips was installed outside the Wisconsin State Capitol in September 2024 — an action that received bipartisan approval in 2021. Phillips also had a Madison high school renamed for her in 2021 and a road in Milwaukee is named after her.

“We already have the statue. Vel Phillips has a street in Milwaukee… it’s really a no-brainer,” Moore Omokunde said. 

The bill is a continuation of lawmakers’ work to recognize and celebrate Black Wisconsinites during Black History Month. Early this month, lawmakers re-introduced a resolution to proclaim February as Black History Month.