I didn’t know who he was, so I had to look up McDonogh, and here is what I found:

From a Louisiana Mardi Gras Museum facebook page:

A sad day in New Orleans…
This morning we all awoke to learn about the terrorists acts of destroying the statue of a Great New Orleans Philanthropist John McDonogh, who provided over 120 years of public education to New Orleanians from his educational fund left in his will. McDonogh loved the people of New Orleans, and we loved him. McDonogh’s inheritance to the public school system created many job opportunities for minorities and financially troubled families who needed educational skills for over a century. John McDonogh donated half his fortune to the New Orleans Public School System with the other half going to his hometown of Baltimore to benefit their public School System.
In 1845, John McDonogh bought the property now known as City Park. When he signed for the ownership for the price of $40,000 it came with 200 heads of cattle and 39 Slaves. John McDonogh became an instant slave owner. While McDonogh owned the property, he allowed the former owner Louis Allard to live the remainder of his life on the City Park property. Many believe from history that Louis Allard was buried under his favorite tree “The Dueling Oak” but St Louis Cathedral records say he is buried in the cemetery. McDonogh later donated the property to the City of New Orleans which they later transformed it into “City Park”.
When McDonogh died on October 26, 1850 in McDonoghville, part of his 2 million dollar fortune was given to his slaves and was enough funds for them to open their own businesses and homes and for them to become independently wealthy. John McDonogh requested in his will to be buried in the slave cemetery on his property in McDonoghville. His will intentions were never realized in full as his remains were transferred and re- buried in his home town of Baltimore. Many of the McDonogh Schools throughout the last 120 plus years that he provided quality public education for many of us both in New Orleans and Baltimore have either been torn down or renamed, and McDonogh has been deemed a racist and slave owner. Is this a fair judgement call to a man that provided over a century of local education to New Orleanians? Thank you John McDonogh for caring for our families education over the past 12 decades.

The wikipedia page gives a lot more facts that everyone should know about this man, his life, and for 12 decades after his death:

McDonogh identified two of his slaves, David K. McDonogh and Washington Watts McDonogh, as “youths of great promise” for manumission to Liberia. In preparation for manumission, McDonogh taught David and Washington to read and write, in violation of Louisiana laws. Wishing to prepare the pair further to become missionaries, John McDonogh arranged for them to begin studies at Lafayette College in Easton, Pennsylvania starting in May 1838.^[11]

Washington struggled academically; he left the college in June 1842, and went on to spend the rest of his life in Liberia, eventually becoming elected to the lower house of the national legislature. David did well at Lafayette, studying medicine, anatomy, and even apprenticing to a local doctor/pharmacist, and graduated in September 1844. David refused to be deported to Liberia, however, and eventually settled in New York City where he was active in politics and medicine. David eventually received a medical degree in 1875. He died in Newark, New Jersey in 1893. The first hospital in New York City with interracial physicians and patients was named McDonough Memorial in David’s memory, in 1898. The hospital closed in 1904.^[11]

Although during his life McDonogh was an infamous miser,^[12] he left the bulk of his fortune—close to $2 million^[13]—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.^[14] This delayed execution of the will until 1858,^[8] with New Orleans receiving a settlement of $704,440.^[4]

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,^[15] 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.^[15]

Unfortunately when I tweeted what I found the #BLackLivesMatter #NewOrleansProtest supporters of this hypocrisy and violence responded with  veiled threats to doxx and incite violence towards me and anyone else who tells the truth. Here is my original tweet thread. Judge some of the responses for yourselves:

I had to look him up but John Mcdonogh's statue was toppled & thrown in the Mississippi river today by #blacklivesmatter #neworleansprotest criminals. Unsurprisingly, Mcdonogh was quite a radical in his time, freeing his slaves and educating black kids. pic.twitter.com/BPLw1MbyrF

— 🇺🇸Col. Rob Maness ret.🇺🇸 (@RobManess) June 14, 2020

If anyone, including those that support the marxist goals of the group Black Lives Matter, has any illusions about who desires to divide this country, the efforts to remove revolutionary war commander, abolitionist, and philanthropist to free and educate enslaved and free black people statues who tried to do the right thing in the context of their times, logic should convince you otherwise. Unfortunately, we may have “crossed the Rubicon” and be facing immoveable positions that will prevent people like me from actually solving problems like we did with our removal of the last vestiges of Jim Crow law here in Louisiana by requiring all juries be unanimous.