Morial, Ernest N. (Ernest Nathan), 1929-1989

<p>Ernest Nathan "Dutch" Morial (October 9, 1929 – December 24, 1989), was an American political figure and a leading civil rights advocate. He was the first African-American mayor of New Orleans, serving from 1978 to 1986. He was the father of Marc Morial, who subsequently served as Mayor of New Orleans from 1994 to 2002.</p>

<p>Morial, a New Orleans native, grew up in the Seventh Ward in a French-Creole Catholic family. His father was Walter Etienne Morial, a cigarmaker, and his mother was Leonie V. (Moore) Morial, a seamstress. He attended Holy Redeemer Elementary School and McDonogh No. 35 Senior High School. He graduated from Xavier University of Louisiana in New Orleans, Louisiana in 1951. In 1954, he became the first African American to receive a law degree from Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge.</p>

<p>Morial came to prominence as a lawyer fighting to dismantle segregation and as president of the local from 1962 to 1965. He followed in the cautious style of his mentor A. P. Tureaud in preferring to fight for Civil and political rights in courtroom battles, rather than through sit-ins and demonstrations.</p>

<p>Ernest Nathan “Dutch” Morial was a civil rights activist and political pioneer whose career included many firsts for an African American in Louisiana; foremost among them was his election as the first black mayor of New Orleans in 1977, a position he held for two terms through 1986. Morial created a political dynasty: his eldest son, Marc, would go on to serve as the city’s mayor from 1994 to 2002, becoming the first African American father-son legacy to lead a major American city.</p>

<p>Born on October 9, 1929, to a working-class French- and English-speaking, Roman Catholic Creole family in New Orleans’s Seventh Ward, Morial learned early the value of education. He also learned of the pervasive racism that defined the early twentieth-century South. His father was Walter Etienne Morial, a cigar maker, and his mother was Leonie V. (Moore) Morial, a seamstress. Walter thought his son resembled the boy on the label for Dutch Boy paints, and thus he nicknamed his child “Dutch.” Ernest graduated from the racially segregated McDonogh 35 Senior High School and Xavier University of Louisiana, where he received a degree in business administration in 1951. He became the first African American to graduate from the Louisiana State University School of Law in 1954 after taking an accelerated course load, including summer classes, to achieve the breakthrough milestone ahead of fellow black classmate Robert Collins. Morial devoted his first two years as a lawyer to working for the US Army intelligence group during and after the Korean War. He then returned to New Orleans, where he practiced law at a private firm.</p>

<p>In 1955 Morial married Sybil Haydel, later to become an accomplished professional in her own right as a dean of Xavier University. The couple had two sons, Marc and Jacques, and three daughters, Julie, Cheri, and Monique.</p>

<p><b>RACES</b>
<ul>
<li> 02/01/1986 New Orleans City Council - District D Lost 45.21% (-0.30%)</li>
<li> 03/20/1982 New Orleans Mayor - Runoff Won 53.20% (+6.40%)</li>
<li> 02/06/1982 New Orleans Mayor Won 46.94% (+1.54%)</li>
<li> 11/12/1977 New Orleans Mayor - Runoff Won 51.78% (+3.55%)</li>
<li> 10/01/1977 New Orleans Mayor Won 26.63% (+2.79%)</li>
</ul>
</p>

<p>Born in New Orleans, Louisiana on October 9, 1929, Ernest “Dutch” Morial grew up in the city’s English and French-speaking Seventh Ward. His father was a cigar maker and his mother was a seamstress. Graduating from Xavier University, a historically black Catholic institution in 1951, he became the first African American to receive a law degree from Louisiana State University in 1954. Battling segregation in the courtroom, he was elected president of the local NAACP chapter. In 1967 Morial became the first African American elected to the Louisiana State legislature since Reconstruction. Later, he became the first Juvenile Court judge in 1970, and the first Circuit Court of Appeals judge of his race in Louisiana in 1974.</p>

<p>In 1977 Morial was elected the first African American mayor of New Orleans, with 95% of the black vote, and 20% of the white vote, mostly from the city’s middle and upper-class Uptown neighborhoods. His leadership style was often described as arrogant and abrasive. When police officers went on strike in 1979 he refused to compromise, announcing his stand with his hand inside his coat in a Napoleonic gesture.</p>

<p>Although Morial significantly increased the minority proportion of city workers and policemen, he was criticized by some black community leaders for allowing continued police brutality. His tenure ended in 1986 despite his attempts to amend the city charter and run for a third term. Many observers felt that only death prevented him from entering the 1990 mayoral race. Four years later, in 1994, his son Marc Morial was elected mayor of New Orleans.</p>