The David McDonogh Project | The Language of Sight

Produced by Richard Koplin ’64 and written by award-winning playwright Judy Tate, this world premiere celebrates the achievements of Lafayette College’s first Black graduate and the first Black eye doctor in the U.S., David McDonogh.

In 1838 in New Orleans, a wealthy landowner, John McDonogh, sends two enslaved young men, David and Washington to Lafayette College. A member of the Colonization Society, McDonogh’s plan was to have “his Black family,”  educated then sent back to Africa, where they would become missionaries. Washington left for Liberia in 1842. David had other plans.

This performance is supported in part by the Bicentennial Academic Fund.