Dutch Morial

Politician

• Born: October 9, 1929
• Birthplace: New Orleans, Louisiana
• Died: December 24, 1989
• Place of death: New Orleans, Louisiana

The first African American mayor of New Orleans and a civil rights advocate, Morial championed the fight for desegregation, economic development, and affirmative action.

Early Life

Ernest Nathan Morial (MOH-ree-al) was born on October 9, 1929, and he was raised in the Seventh Ward section of New Orleans, Louisiana. The youngest of six children, he was nicknamed Dutch. The son of Walter Etienne Morial, a cigar maker, and Leonie V. Moore, a seamstress, Dutch Morial grew up in a family of devout Catholics and began his education at St. Louis Catholic School. He later attended Xavier Preparatory School before transferring to McDonough 35, the first public college-preparatory high school for students of color in New Orleans. At McDonough 35, he played quarterback for the school’s football team. In 1951, Morial graduated from Xavier University, a historically African American Catholic university, with a bachelor of science degree in business administration. Three years later, in 1954, he made history by becoming the first African American student to earn a law degree from Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge. In 1955, he married Sybil Haydel, whom he had met when they were teenagers. They had five children—sons Marc and Jacques and daughters Julie, Cheri, and Monique.

Life’s Work

Morial began practicing law in 1957 after serving in the U.S. Army’s Military Intelligence Corps, from 1954 to 1956, during the Korean War. In 1960, Morial began serving as general counsel to the Standard Life Insurance Company. In 1965, he was appointed assistant U.S. attorney for New Orleans, the first African American to hold this position. As a lawyer, Morial quickly came into prominence as he struggled to dismantle segregation. He served as president of the local chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) from 1962 to 1965. Mentored by civil rights leader A. P. Tureaud, Morial used his legal skills to fight segregation laws. As an attorney with the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Morial participated in the Dryades Street Boycott and fought for the desegregation of buses and streetcars and the integration of the University of New Orleans. Morial also filed suits for African Americans to use the Municipal Auditorium and for the wider desegregation of public schools in New Orleans. Morial served as a founding member of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, organized by President John F. Kennedy, and served in the House of Delegates of the Louisiana State Bar.

By 1967, Morial had become the first African American Louisiana state legislator from New Orleans since Reconstruction. He was elected the first African American juvenile court judge in 1970 and the first African American elected judge to serve on the Louisiana Fourth Circuit Courts of Appeal in 1974.

Morial’s big success came in 1977, when he was elected the first African American mayor of New Orleans, an office he held from 1978 to 1986. He captured 95 percent of the African American vote and 20 percent of the city’s white vote. Morial was regarded by many as a dextrous, hands-on administrator, who demanded proficiency from all levels of his staff and who kept the city on solid footing in difficult financial times, as federal aid dried up and the city struggled with a low tax base. He created the first office of economic development, to coordinate the city’s efforts to retain and to attract business, and appointed the first minority business enterprise counselor to assist small and minority-owned businesses.

Morial redoubled the city’s commitment to affirmative action in hiring city workers and introduced minority hiring quotas for city contractors. The proportion of African American employees on the city’s workforce increased from 40 percent in 1977 to 53 percent in 1985. Morial also emphasized development of the downtown area and the historic French Quarter.

Morial was a member of Alpha Phi Alpha, the first intercollegiate Greek-letter organization established for African Americans, and he served as the fraternity’s twenty-third general president. During his second mayoral term, he was president of the U.S. Conference of Mayors. He also was a member of the Democratic National Committee.

Morial died at the age of sixty from an asthma attack on December 24, 1989. In 1992, New Orleans renamed its convention center the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center, a tribute to Morial’s efforts toward getting the center built.

Significance

Morial, an accomplished politician, forever changed the political landscape of New Orleans when he became the city’s first African American mayor. With the assistance of the NAACP, he helped to desegregate the city. Leading New Orleans during a period of lingering racism, Morial worked diligently to serve all segments of the community.

Bibliography

Hirsch, Arnold R., and Joseph Logsdon. Creole New Orleans. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1992. Morial was an African American Creole from New Orleans, and his legacy is captured in this book, cowritten by historians from the University of New Orleans.

Lewis, Edmund W. “Morial Family Reflects on Dutch’s Legacy and the Challenges Facing Barack Obama.” The Louisiana Weekly, February 2, 2009. Commentary on how Morial changed the face of politics in New Orleans, much as the election of Obama to the presidency of the United States was unprecedented.

Marcus, Frances Frank. “Ernest Morial, Former Mayor of New Orleans.” The New York Times, December 25, 1989. This tribute describes Morial’s main accomplishments.