Jill Biden and Al Sharpton pay tribute to civil rights activist Sybil Morial

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — First lady Jill Biden, former ambassador Andrew Young and the Rev. Al Sharpton were among those who paid tribute during funeral services Monday for New Orleans civil rights activist Sybil Morial.

Morial, who was also the widow of New Orleans’ first Black mayor, Ernest N. “Dutch” Morial, and mother to former Mayor Marc H. Morial, died earlier this month at age 91.

New Orleans news outlets reported that Biden paid her respects in a video played for attendees at the service held at Xavier University, where Morial attended school and worked for 28 years. Young, the one-time United Nations ambassador and former Atlanta mayor who was a friend of Morial’s since their childhood, also spoke:

“There’s something magical, and spiritual, about the life of Sybil Morial that will never die,” Young told the mourners.

Sharpton, leader of the National Action Network, said Morial’s activism made them all better.

“What Sybil Morial has done goes beyond her family, goes beyond her husband and goes beyond her children and grandchildren,” he said. “All of us are better because she decided to join the struggle to make the country better racially and gender-wise.”

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