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Former New Orleans mayor to deliver Spring commencement speech at Southern University

Raeven Poole

WASHINGTON, DC - JULY 08: Civil rights leader Marc Morial of the National Urban League speaks at a news briefing outside the West Wing of the White House following a meeting with President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris July 8, 2021 in Washington, DC. The president and vice president met with a group of civil rights leaders to discuss voting rights legislation and the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)

BATON ROUGE, La (WGNO) — Former New Orleans Mayor and President of the National Urban League, Marc Morial, has been selected to deliver the 2023 commencement speech for the Spring graduates at Southern Univerity and A&M College in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

The soon-to-be Southernites will have the chance to hear inspiring words from a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania and Georgetown University Law Center, who upholds himself as a leader with careers of being a lawyer and Louisiana state senator. Like his father, the late Earnest “Dutch” Morial, Morial served two terms as the Mayor of New Orleans.

The two made history as the first Black father and son duo to be elected as mayors of a major city.

After his eight-year run as mayor, Morial became president and CEO of the National Urban League in 2003, which is “the nation’s largest historic civil rights and urban advocacy organization”.

Not only prominent on the local stage but national as well. Being a published author, Morial has served as an advocate for jobs, education, housing, health, voting rights, equity, and entrepreneurship with publications entitled “10 Leadership Lessons That Help You Inspire, United, and Achieve.”

Morial also contributes a weekly column to many newspapers and online entitled “To Be Equal,” which has reached an audience of hundreds of thousands of readers. Currently, he is the host of a weekly syndicated television show called “America’s Black Forum.” 

Marc Morial has been awarded many accolades including being recognized as one of the 100 most influential Black Americans by Ebony Magazine, one of the top 50 Non-Profit Leaders by the Non-Profit Times, and one of the 100 Most Influential Black Lawyers in America.

His past works have earned him a sport as an inductee into the International Civil Rights Walk of Fame in Atlanta. 

The graduation will be held on Friday (May 12) beginning at 10 a.m. at the  F.G. Clark Activity Center and is open to the public.

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