In Memoriam: Sybil Haydel Morial, 1932-2024

Sybil Haydel Morial, long-time administrator at Xavier University of Louisiana, passed away on September 4. She was 91 years old.

A native of New Orleans, Haydel Morial began her undergraduate education at Xavier University of Louisiana, but ultimately completed her degree at Boston University. She attended BU at the same time Martin Luther King, Jr. was there completing his doctorate. Upon finishing her bachelor’s degree, she returned to New Orleans to pursue a graduate education. However, she was rejected from both Tulane University and Loyola University because of her race, forcing her to return to Boston to earn her graduate degree.

In the mid-1950s, Sybil Haydel Morial returned to New Orleans and married her husband Ernest “Dutch” Morial. Dutch went on to become New Orleans’ first Black mayor in 1978. Alongside her husband, Haydel Morial was active in the civil rights movement and in advancing women’s rights in New Orleans. She founded the Louisiana League of Good Government, a diverse group of women who advocated for voting rights. She also spent many years as a teacher in New Orleans Public Schools.

In 1977, Haydel Morial began her career as an administrator with Xavier University of Louisiana, where she served for nearly three decades. In 2005, she retired as vice president for external affairs.

Haydel Morial chronicled the events of her lifetime and her personal accounts of the Civil Rights Movement in New Orleans in her 2018 memoir, Witness to Change: From Jim Crow to Empowerment (Blair, 2018).