Marc Haydel Morial (born January 3, 1958) is an American political and civic leader and the current president of the National Urban League. Morial served as Mayor of New Orleans from 1994 to 2002 as the city's youngest Mayor, President of the

United States Conference of Mayors The United States Conference of Mayors (USCM) is the official non-partisan organization of cities with populations of 30,000 or more. The cities are each represented by their mayors or other chief elected officials. The organization was founded ...

in 2001, and as a Louisiana State Senator from 1992 to 1994. Morial was born in New Orleans, Louisiana. After completing his undergraduate degree at the University of Pennsylvania in 1980 and receiving his Juris Doctor from

Georgetown University Law Center Georgetown University Law Center is the Law school in the United States, law school of Georgetown University, a Private university, private research university in Washington, D.C., United States. It was established in 1870 and is the largest law ...

in 1983, he began his career as a lawyer in New Orleans and in 1985 he established a private law practice there. In 2021, Harvard University published a case study, profiling Morial, called
Embracing the Uphill Struggle: Marc Morial’s Quest for Corporate Diversity
.

Biography

Early life and education

Marc Morial was born to Ernest N. "Dutch" Morial and Sybil (Haydel) Morial, an elementary school teacher, Xavier University of New Orleans dean and civic activist. He is the second of five children. He was raised in Pontchartrain Park, a subdivision of New Orleans. Morial went on to graduate Jesuit High School in New Orleans as a member of the National Honor Society. He was one of only 14 Black students of 1,000 at Jesuit High School, he founded the Student Association for Black Achievement, and organized the school's first Black History Month celebration. Morial was included in Who’s Who Among High School Students and Who’s Who in America and Outstanding Young Men of America in high school. In 1980 Morial earned a bachelor's degree in economics and African American studies at the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. One of nine colonial colleges, it was chartered in 1755 through the efforts of f ...

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

. Morial earned a

Juris Doctor A Juris Doctor, Doctor of Jurisprudence, or Doctor of Law (JD) is a graduate-entry professional degree that primarily prepares individuals to practice law. In the United States and the Philippines, it is the only qualifying law degree. Other j ...

degree in 1983 from

Georgetown University Georgetown University is a private university, private Jesuit research university in Washington, D.C., United States. Founded by Bishop John Carroll (archbishop of Baltimore), John Carroll in 1789, it is the oldest Catholic higher education, Ca ...

in Washington, D.C. At Georgetown, he was elected first-year Delegate to the Student Bar Association and served as a member and head of fundraising for the National Black Law Students Association.

Early career

After working during his third year in law school for the late U.S. Rep. Mickey Leland, he returned to New Orleans to join the firm Barham and Churchill. In 1985, Morial established a private law practice in New Orleans. After a narrow defeat in his first race for public office for Louisiana second congressional district, Morial was elected as Louisiana State senator in 1991 where he served until 1994 before being elected Mayor of New Orleans.

State senator

As a Louisiana State Senator (1992–94), Morial was Chairman of the Educational Institution Subcommittee; and member of the Louisiana Legislative Black Caucus.

Mayor of New Orleans

Marc Morial was elected Mayor of New Orleans, Louisiana in

1994 The year 1994 was designated as the " International Year of the Family" and the "International Year of Sport and the Olympic Ideal" by the United Nations. In the Line Islands and Phoenix Islands of Kiribati, 1994 had only 364 days, omitti ...

by defeating Donald Mintz with 54% of the vote. He was the youngest Mayor of New Orleans in 50 years and at the time was one of the youngest mayors of any major American city. He campaigned with the promise to "clean out City Hall with a shovel not a broom." Morial won re-election to a second term in

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for Lunar water, frozen water, in soil i ...

, receiving almost 80% of the votes. During his time as Mayor, the rate of violent crime in New Orleans fell by 50%." From 2001 to 2002, Morial was President of the

. He served as chief spokesperson for America’s Cities (2001–02). In addition to his time as President, he also served as the organization’s Chairman for the Committee on Arts, Chairman for the Federal Budget Task Force, and Chairman for the Task Force on Hunger and Homelessness, and Vice President, among other positions.

National Urban League

In 2003, Morial was selected to head the National Urban League. In 2004, Morial added a new metric, the Equality Index, to the League's annual State of Black America.

Publications

Morial has written two non-fiction books, published speeches, weekly newspaper columns and a weekly newsletter, “ReMarcs” for the National Urban League. * “A National Action Plan for America’s Cities,” The Urban Lawyer: The National Quarterly on State and Local Government Law, Volume 34 Number 3, Summer 2002. * “Decisions of Courage,” a Book of Speeches by Mayor Marc H. Morial from his first term as Mayor of New Orleans. 1998 * “To Be Equal,” a weekly newspaper column. 2003 – Present * The Gumbo Coalition - 2020

Presidential Commissions

Morial served as Chair of the Census Advisory Committee (2010), and a member President’s Advisory Council on Financial Capability (2012-2015). He was also appointed to the Twenty-First Century Workforce Commission by President Bill Clinton (1998-2000).

References

External links

* *
Marc Morial interview

Tavis Smiley Tavis Smiley (; born September 13, 1964) is an American talk show host and author. Smiley was born in Gulfport, Mississippi, and grew up in Bunker Hill, Indiana. After attending Indiana University Bloomington, Indiana University, he worked durin ...

show , - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Morial, Marc 1958 births Living people 20th-century African-American politicians 20th-century mayors of places in Louisiana 21st-century African-American politicians 21st-century mayors of places in Louisiana African-American mayors in Louisiana African-American state legislators in Louisiana American anti-racism activists American civil rights activists Democratic Party Louisiana state senators Georgetown University Law Center alumni Jesuit High School (New Orleans) alumni Louisiana Creole people Mayors of New Orleans Minority rights activists New York (state) Democrats Presidents of the United States Conference of Mayors University of Pennsylvania alumni 20th-century members of the Louisiana State Legislature