John McDonogh

John McDonogh (29 December 1779–26 October 1850) was a United States entrepreneur and philanthropist, described as miserly, controversial, and eccentric. He is most famous for endowing public education in two major American cities—New Orleans, Louisiana and Baltimore, Maryland.

Life and career

McDonogh was born in Baltimore and entered the shipping business there. In 1800 his employers sent him as supercargo on a ship to Liverpool, England, to procure a cargo of goods for the Louisiana trade. He was successful, and after a second such voyage decided to make his home in New Orleans. Establishing a store and engaging in the "commission and shipping business," he prospered there.cite web
title=Biography of McDonogh, John, Orleans Parish, Louisiana
work=LAGenWeb Archives
format=submitted by Mike Miller, September 2000
url=http://ftp.rootsweb.com/pub/usgenweb/la/orleans/bios/m-000015.txt
accessdate=2006-04-29]

In 1818, he was a candidate for the U.S. Senate. After he lost that election, he left New Orleans and settled across the Mississippi River, establishing the town of McDonoghville, now called McDonogh, which is in present-day Algiers and Gretna.cite web
title=McDonogh Neighborhood Snapshot
work=Greater New Orleans Community Data Center
url=http://gnocdc.org/Orleans/12/4/snapshot.html
accessdate=2006-04-29]

The young McDonogh was mentioned as having unsuccessfully courted Micaela Almonester, who went on to become the Baroness Pontalba, one of the most important figures in New Orleans history. He was also rebuffed in courtship later in life. A failure to marry and the loss of the Senate race may have contributed to a life which has been described as reclusive. William H. Seymour, a local and near-contemporary chronicler, described him in 1896 as having been an "eccentric philanthropist" who "for twenty-two long years toiled" within the walls of his "somber dwelling."cite book | first=William H. | last=Seymour | year=1896 | title=The story of Algiers, now Fifth District of New Orleans, 1718-1896. The past and the present. | edition=Limited ed. | url=http://www.buhler-family.net/Library/TheStoryOfAlgiers/TheStoryofAlgiers.pdf | publisher=Algiers Democrat Publishing Company | location=Algiers, LA | id=LCCN 48041591 ]

laveholding and manumission

McDonogh was a slaveholder. In 1822 he devised a manumission scheme by which his slaves could buy their freedom. The process took about 15 years; thus he was able to profit from their labor before he set them free.cite book | first=Alexandre | last=Grailhe | year=1852(?) | url=http://www.ilab.org/services/catalogues.php?membernr=1154&catnr=1440&pg=2&br= | title=Mémoire à plaider devant la cour suprème de Louisiane, pour les villes de la Nouvelle-Orléans et de Baltimore, dans le procès sur le testament de M. McDonogh | format=cited in International League of Antiquarian Booksellers on-line catalogue | accessdate=2006-04-29 ] McDonogh was also active in, and contributed to, the American Colonization Society, which enabled freed black slaves to emigrate back to Africa. McDonogh used the Society to provide passage to Liberia for many of his former slaves. [cite book
first=John
last=McDonogh
editor=James T. Edwards
year=1898
title=Some interesting papers of John McDonogh, chiefly concerning the Louisiana purchase and the Liberian colonization
publisher=Printed by boys of McDonogh School
location=McDonogh, MD
id=LCCN 12012540 ]

Legacy

Although during his life McDonogh was an infamous miser,cite web
title=Blake Pontchartrain, New Orleans Know-It-All
work=Gambit Weekly
url=http://www.bestofneworleans.com/dispatch/2004-05-11/blake.html
accessdate=2006-04-29] he left the bulk of his fortune—close to $2 million [The amount of $2 million in the year 1850 adjusted for inflation to the year 2000 would be equivalent to approximately $40 million based on the Consumer Price Index, or more than $7 billion in terms of relative share of the Gross Domestic Product. – cite web
title=What Is Its Relative Value in US Dollars?
work=Economic History Services
url=http://eh.net/hmit/compare/
format=calculator
accessdate=2006-05-14] —to the cities of Baltimore and New Orleans for the purpose of building public schools for poor children—specifically, white and freed black children. This was unprecedented, and proved controversial. His heirs contested the will, and the case, "McDonogh's Executors v. Murdoch", went to the U.S. Supreme Court. [cite web
title= McDonogh's Ex'rs v. Murdoch, 56 U.S. 367 (1853)
work=Justia.com / US Supreme Court Center
url=http://supreme.justia.com/us/56/367/case.html
accessdate=2006-04-29] This delayed execution of the will until 1858, with New Orleans receiving a settlement of $704,440.

Baltimore already had a substantial public school system, but McDonogh's will also stipulated the creation of a "school farm" for underprivileged boys outside of the city. McDonogh School in Owings Mills, Maryland, founded in 1873, was the result.

The New Orleans public school system had been established in 1841,cite web
title=History of New Orleans Public Schools
work=New Orleans Public Schools
url=http://www.nops.k12.la.us/content/district/history.html
accessdate=2006-04-29] but the McDonogh Fund facilitated major expansion. Eventually over 30 schools were built, most emblazoned with his name and a number. By the early 1970s there were 20 McDonogh schools remaining in New Orleans. In the 1980s and 1990s, many of those were renamed in a movement to remove the names of slaveholders from New Orleans' public schools. The following John McDonogh schools are still in operation, post-Katrina: McDonogh Senior High School, #7, #15, #26, #28, #32, #35, #42.

Notes and references

Further reading

*cite book
first=John
last=McDonogh
year=1851
title=The last will and testament of John McDonogh, late of MacDonoghville, state of Louisiana
publisher=Printed at the job office of "The Daily Delta"
location=New Orleans
url=http://www.hti.umich.edu/cgi/t/text/pageviewer-idx?c=moa&cc=moa&xc=1&idno=abk9835.0001.001&g=moagrp&q1=McDonogh&frm=frameset&view=image&seq=3
id=LCCN 2002553168

*cite book
first=G. Leighton
last=Ciravolo
year=2002
title=The legacy of John McDonogh
publisher=Center for Louisiana Studies, University of Louisiana at Lafayette
location=Lafayette LA
id=ISBN 1-887366-48-2

*cite book
first=Donald E.
last=Devore
coauthors=Joseph Logsdon
year=1991
title=Crescent City Schools: Public Education in New Orleans 1841-1991
publisher=Center for Louisiana Studies, University of Southwestern Louisiana
location=Lafayette LA
id=LCCN 91070562

*cite book
first=David C.
last=Downing
year=2007
title=A South Divided: Portraits of Dissent in the Confederacy
publisher=Cumberland House | location=Nashville TN
id=ISBN 978-1-58182-587-9

*cite book
first=Robert
last=Meyer
year=1975
title=Names over New Orleans public schools
publisher=Namesake Press
location=New Orleans
id=LCCN 75314596

ee also

*McDonogh Day Boycott
*The McDonogh Three