Like so many New Orleanians, Sybil Haydel Morial was displaced by Hurricane Katrina nearly two decades ago. Like them, she lost cherished belongings, mementos and photographs to the surging waters that ruined her home and forced her to relocate to Baton Rouge for eight years. But she was always a New Orleanian.
She shared the grief known only to those who endured the storm's devastation, including acceptance of the loss and the struggle to rebuild her life. In her case, that included a fire and the frustrations of litigation, but also the cathartic effect of jotting down notes about her long, rich life.
She soon realized that she had a book, a new memento for her children and grandchildren. Her son Jacques, a historian and political strategist, said the book?"Witness to Change: From Jim Crow to Empowerment," was actually for all New Orleanians. "She was hardly just a witness," he added. "That was her humility."
Morial, 91, died late Tuesday night after a long illness. She celebrated her 90th birthday in November 2022 and soon thereafter suffered a health failure that limited her activity. Until then, she remained actively involved in many civic, educational and charitable causes.
Like her late husband, New Orleans' first Black mayor Ernest "Dutch" Morial, she experienced segregation in her youth, along with prejudices within her own community. She was a debutante at age 17, though it wasn't her choice. She considered it fake royalty within the Black community, noting that she was not even seen as an equal under the law outside of her community.
Morial graduated from Boston University, one of its few Black students at the time. While there, she met and befriended doctoral student Martin Luther King Jr. Other friends included Verna Landrieu, the wife of New Orleans Mayor Moon Landrieu and the mother of Mayor Mitch Landrieu, and many other prominent public officials across Louisiana and the nation.
A longtime teacher and administrator at Xavier University of Louisiana, she used the classroom and the campus to encourage and support activism and advocacy. At home, she instilled a sense of civic duty and responsibility in her five children. In all her many endeavors, whether as New Orleans' First Lady or as an advocate for society's less fortunate, Morial inspired others with her?graciousness, her kindness and her iron-willed sense of justice.
In addition to her son Jacques, the political strategist, she was the mother of former New Orleans Mayor Marc Morial, who now leads the National Urban League; Dr. Julie Morial, the medical director of Campus Health and Wellness at Tulane University; Cheri Morial Ausberry, an influential Baton Rouge businesswoman; and?First City Court Judge Monique Morial,?recently elected to Louisiana's 4th Circuit Court of Appeal.
Louisiana has lost a civil and human rights champion and beloved icon. Through her book, her relationships, her family and her decades of tireless service, she leaves an enduring legacy.
