Marc Haydel Morial (born January 3, 1958) is an American political and civic leader and the current president of the

National Urban League The National Urban League, formerly known as the National League on Urban Conditions Among Negroes, is a nonpartisan historic civil rights organization based in New York City that advocates on behalf of economic and social justice for African Am ...

. Morial served as

Mayor of New Orleans The post of Mayor of the City of New Orleans (french: Maire de La Nouvelle-Orléans) has been held by the following individuals since New Orleans came under American administration following the Louisiana Purchase — the acquisition by the U.S. ...

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 i ...

in 2001, and as a

Louisiana State Senator The Louisiana State Senate (french: Sénat de Louisiane) is the upper house of the state legislature of Louisiana. All senators serve four-year terms and are assigned to multiple committees. Composition The Louisiana State Senate is compose ...

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

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.

Early life and education

Marc Morial was born January 3, 1958 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 Pontchartrain Park is a historically registered neighborhood of the city of New Orleans. A subdistrict of the Gentilly District Area, its boundaries as defined by the City Planning Commission are: Leon C. Simon Drive to the north, the Industrial ...

, 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 (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest- ...

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Since ...

. Morial earned a

Juris Doctor The Juris Doctor (J.D. or JD), also known as Doctor of Jurisprudence (J.D., JD, D.Jur., or DJur), is a graduate-entry professional degree in law and one of several Doctor of Law degrees. The J.D. is the standard degree obtained to practice l ...

degree in 1983 from

Georgetown University Georgetown University is a private research university in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Founded by Bishop John Carroll in 1789 as Georgetown College, the university has grown to comprise eleven undergraduate and graduate ...

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 George Thomas "Mickey" Leland III (November 27, 1944 – August 7, 1989) was an anti-poverty activist who later became a congressman from the Texas 18th District and chair of the Congressional Black Caucus. He was a Democrat. Early years 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 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which sank in the Baltic Sea; Nels ...

by defeating Donald Mintz with 54% of the vote. He’s the youngest person elected Mayor of New Orleans in 50 years and at the time, one of the youngest mayors of a 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 frozen water, in soil in permanently s ...

, receiving 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

Conference of Mayors

Morial was elected President of the United States Conference of Mayors by membership and 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

. In 2004, Morial added a new metric, the Equality Index, to the League's annual

State of Black America The National Urban League, formerly known as the National League on Urban Conditions Among Negroes, is a nonpartisan historic civil rights organization based in New York City that advocates on behalf of economic and social justice for African A ...

Personal life

Marc Morial is married to CBS journalist

Michelle Miller Michelle Miller is a national correspondent for CBS News and currently serves as a co-host on ''CBS Saturday Morning''. She has also served as a substitute anchor on ''CBS Mornings'' and ''48 Hours on ID''. Early life Miller was born in Los An ...

, whom he married at St Louis Cathedral in New Orleans. They have two children. Morial is Catholic.

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

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