Ernest Nathan Morial

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Ernest Nathan Morial (known as Dutch) (1929 - 1989) was a U.S. political figure and a leading civil rights advocate. He was the first black mayor of New Orleans, having served from 1978 to 1986.

Morial was born in New Orleans, Louisiana of Creole ancestry and graduated from Xavier University. In 1954 he became the first African American to receive a law degree from Louisiana State University. He and Israel Augustine, another African American, were admitted to law school together. Morial attended summer school throughout his law school tenure in order to graduate as the first African American. Had he not done so, Augustine by virtue of his name starting with the letter "A" would have entered into the history books as the first African American graduate. Morial lived a life which seemed obsessed with being first. In 1967 he became the first black member of the Louisiana State Legislature since Reconstruction. He then became the first black Juvenile Court judge in Louisiana in 1970. When he was elected to the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals in 1972, he was the first black American to attain this position as well. In 1978 he became the first African American Mayor of New Orleans, serving until 1986. He was the father of former New Orleans Mayor Marc Morial.

As New Orleans' mayor, Morial cancelled the New Orleans Mardi Gras parade season in 1979 when the city's police officers went on strike. The police union wagered, among its membership, that a strike coinciding with Mardi Gras would force the city's hand in securing many of their demands; but Morial refused to give in, and was supported by leaders of many of the city's Carnival Krewes. The New Orleans krewes either canceled their parades that year or moved them to suburbs in other Parishes.

Morial, short in stature, is best known for his Napoleonic stand where he placed his arm inside his coat and stood in a characteristic Napoleon pose at the announcement that he was cancelling Mardi Gras.

The City of New Orleans renamed its convention center, which spans over 10 blocks, the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center in 1992 for the late New Orleans mayor who championed its construction. Since its doors have opened, it has attracted more than 10.3 million out-of-state visitors, generating a statewide economic impact of $35.84 billion from 1985-2004. This total includes $13.52 billion in direct spending, $22.32 billion in secondary spending and $1.93 billion in new tax revenues for city and state coffers.

In 1997, the Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center posthumously honored him with the dedication of The Ernest N. Morial Asthma, Allergy and Respiratory Disease Center. The facility is Louisiana's first comprehensive center for the education, prevention, treatment and research of asthma and other respiratory diseases. "Dutch" suffered and eventually died from complications associated with asthma.

Morial was a former General President of Alpha Phi Alpha, the first intercollegiate Greek-letter fraternity established for African Americans.

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