page_title: John McDonogh
section_title: Legacy
hierarchical_section_title: John McDonogh / Legacy
caption_attribution_description: English: Statue of John McDonogh in Lafayette Square, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA
context_page_description: John McDonogh was an American entrepreneur whose adult life was spent in south Louisiana and later in Baltimore. He made a fortune in real estate and shipping, and as a slave owner, he supported the American Colonization Society, which organized transportation for freed people of color to Liberia. He had devised a manumission scheme whereby the people he held as enslaved could "buy" their own freedom, which took them some 15 years. In his will he provided large grants for the public education of children of poor whites and freed people of color in New Orleans and Baltimore, and by the 1970s some 20 schools in the New Orleans public school system were named for him.
context_section_description: Although during his life McDonogh was an infamous miser, he left the bulk of his fortune—close to $2 million—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.  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, 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: John McDonogh High School and McDonogh #7, #15, #26,  #28, #32, #35, and #42.
  McDonogh's will proved difficult to administer because of the large number of properties involved, many of which were rented.  Also, McDonogh had stipulated the properties to be a perpetual trust and that no properties could ever be sold.  The trustees eventually got a court ruling allowing them to sell off the property.  Money from the trust funded schools for about 100 years, although because of population growth the estate was not sufficient to cover the entire school systems expenses.
caption: John McDonogh statue, Lafayette Square, New Orleans
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