Civil Rights activist Sybil Haydel Morial, the mother of National Urban League president and CEO Marc Morial, and the widow of Ernest “Dutch” Morial, New Orleans’ first Black mayor, has died.
Xavier University of Louisiana reported that Morial was 92.
The National Urban League informed the public of Morial’s death in a Sept. 4 announcement . The family did not release any additional details.
“Words cannot express our sorrow at the loss of our beloved matriarch and guiding star,” Morial’s family said in a statement shared by the organization. “Our grief is tempered by our overwhelming gratitude for her life, her wisdom, and her love.”
“Like many women of the Civil Rights Era, she was the steel in the movement’s spine,” the family added. “From the moment she met our late father, Ernest ‘Dutch’ Morial, they were joined in the fight for justice and equality. She confronted the hard realities of Jim Crow with unwavering courage and faith, which she instilled not only in her own children but in every life she touched.”
Born in 1932, Morial played a significant role in the advancement of the Black community as an activist, author, and educator in New Orleans. According to New Orleans Historical, after experiencing the oppression of white supremacy and racial segregation in Louisiana growing up during the 1930s and 1940s, Morial, with other family members, created networks of interaction in Black communities for professionals and social activists.
She studied at Xavier University and transferred to Boston University in 1950. In Boston, Morial was able to experience life without segregation. These moments inspired her to want the same for her Louisiana hometown. After returning to New Orleans, she attended Tulane University before establishing the Louisiana League of Good Government (LLOGG), an organization of women of different ethnicities, formerly known as CiCulSo, that pursued the inclusion of Blacks during voting.
In 1963, Morial challenged the Orleans Parish School Board in an effort to protect Orleans Parish school teachers who advocated for integration. Morial joined the women’s auxiliary of the National Urban League and contributed to fundraisers, youth mentorship, and leadership development initiatives arranged through the organization.
In A Lifetime of Achievement: Sybil Morial Papers at the Amistad Research Center, Morial documented her establishment of the Ernest N. Morial Asthma Center at the LSU Medical Center. The center studies asthma, the chronic lung disease her husband battled before he died in 1989.
Morial was the mother of five children and seven grandchildren. Announcements regarding a celebration of life for the New Orleans native will be released soon.
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