Jerrianne Hayslett

Award-Winning Author

Valiant Vel: Vel Phillips and the Fight for Fairness and Equality is the first book ever published about Vel Phillips, a tiny middle-class Black woman who took to the streets to fight for the voiceless. She accomplished gigantic feats with unwavering persistence, including a six-year battle with city hall that captured national headlines, thanks to the help of dozens of young people and an iconic Catholic priest, Father James Groppi, who marched for 200 days. The author's compelling narrative channels Vel Phillips' journey, mostly in Vel's own words and puts readers in her shoes so they feel what she feels, want what she wants, and celebrate her bravery and victories. Vel's activism wasn't just for people of color. She also confronted sexism which she found more pervasive than racial discrimination. As the only female member of the Milwaukee Common Council, she was not only excluded by her male colleagues from their informal conversations, which they often held behind closed doors where they developed camaraderie and discussed city business, they urged her to join the aldermen's wives club. Generally, white people can eventually accept someone who is Black, she observed. "But the men never forget that you are a woman. Never, ever, ever.

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