Even as a kid, Sybil Morial was a rule breaker.
When she was 7 years old, Morial rode her bike into then-segregated New Orleans’ City Park with a few friends. At the time, only white residents were allowed inside the city’s largest green space.
Shortly after she rolled into the park, a police officer chased her down and threw her out.
Morial’s act of defiance foreshadowed a life spent challenging segregation and pushing for the civil rights of Black Americans, family and friends said during a celebration of her life on Monday inside Xavier University. Morial died on Sept. 3 at the age of 91.
The two-hour ceremony featured musical tributes, speeches from family and political leaders, and even a special audio message from musician Stevie Wonder. Many remembered Morial as a fierce advocate for social justice, the wife of New Orleans’ first Black mayor, Ernest “Dutch” Morial and a loving family matriarch.
“She was always a queen,” said her daughter, Cheri Morial Ausberry. “Petite in stature but mighty and strong in deeds and actions.”
The ceremony was one part of a two-day stretch of events marking Morial’s life. On Sunday, the community was invited to a public visitation. Monday’s ceremony was followed up with a traditional second line and private family mass and burial.
New Orleans’ ‘Forever First Lady’
Morial was born in New Orleans’ Gert Town neighborhood in 1932. Shortly after her birth, her family moved to New Orleans’ 7th Ward.
There, she endured the relentless oppression many Black Americans lived through during the country’s Jim Crow era. Her experience led her to pursue higher education up north at Boston University.
There, she met civic-minded classmates such as Martin Luther King Jr., and she developed a passion for advocating for civil rights. After school, she became the first Black public school teacher hired in Newtown, Massachusetts.
She always wanted to return to her hometown to teach, and she did so in 1954. Shortly after, she met her husband Ernest “Dutch” Morial.
The pair were passionate activists for women’s suffrage and racial equality. In 1963, Morial became the sole plaintiff in a successful federal lawsuit against a Louisiana law that prohibited public school teachers from belonging to any organization involved in integration, including the NAACP.
Following the passage of the federal Civil Rights Act, she worked hard to implement racial equality at the local level in Louisiana.
“We wanted to be a part of the change when it came, and we did,” Morial said in a recorded video documentary that played at Monday’s service. Morial frequently appeared in the video with a text title that said “New Orleans’ Forever First Lady.”
In the late 1970s and early 80s, she held one of the most powerful titles in New Orleans as the wife of Mayor Ernest Morial.
In office, she advocated for Black representation in all areas of New Orleans’ government and education institutions. She orchestrated the funding of the Afro-American Pavilion when Louisiana hosted the World’s Exposition in 1984.
Morial worked at Xavier University in various administration positions for three decades and served on numerous boards and advisory bodies at the local, state and national level. She also wrote a memoir titled “Witness to Change.”
At home, she ran a tight ship, said Marc Morial, Sybil’s son who served as New Orleans mayor in the late 2000s and now leads the National Urban League
“It was a no nonsense place,” he said. “You were going to school, church. She was a diplomatic drill sergeant.”
He told the story of a family trip to the NAACP conference in Chicago in 1963. During the road trip, the family got in a car accident. Morial’s father, Dutch, wanted to go home. But Sybil convinced the group to go on via Greyhound bus.
That conference influenced more than a decade of activism that led to his father’s successful mayoral campaign, Morial said.
“It was my mother who prevailed on my father to make arrangements to continue that trip to Chicago,” Morial said. “And then there was 1977, my father was running for mayor.”
A legacy of service
Morial is survived by five children, seven grandchildren and many in the community who consider her a mentor and role model.
National political figures also weighed in on her passing. Rev. Al Sharpton, founder of the National Action Network, spoke to the audience about Morial’s contributions to the broader civil rights movement.
“There's so many of us that walk into corporate boardrooms today like we were invited, like we just got that automatic,” he said. “It was the Sybil Morials that opened the doors for you and put you in the position that you are in.”
Sharpton read a letter from Vice President Kamala Harris to the crowd, where the presidential candidate expressed her condolences.
“Morial represents a world transformed from FDR’s new deal to the Democratic Party's nomination of the first Black woman for President,” Sharpton said.
Attendees said they would remember Morial’s contributions, but also her love of New Orleans and friendly smile.
Rene Herbert, a lifelong resident, used to run into her when he worked as an usher at Dooky Chase. Morial was a regular at the historic Treme restaurant.
On Monday, he volunteered to stand at the entrance of her celebration of life and greet attendees.
“She engaged with the community,” he said. “That’s what it’s all about.”
Following the two-hour service, a jazz band played an upbeat tune. Members of Morial’s family gathered around their matriarch’s flower-donned casket and accompanied it out of the stadium to carry her to her final resting place.
