Octavius Valentine Catto was a gifted educator, civil rights activist, and community leader, who dedicated his life to the upliftment of Black Americans through education, political participation, and equal rights. His remarkable achievements and unwavering activism, however, made him a target. On October 10, 1871, Election Day in Philadelphia, he was murdered in cold blood for attempting to exercise the very right that the Fifteenth Amendment had recently guaranteed Black men: the right to vote.
Octavius Catto was born free in Charleston, South Carolina, in 1839. His mother, Sarah Isabella Cain, came from the well-known DeReef family, a mixed-race family that had been free for generations and held standing within the city’s Black elite. His father, William T. Catto, had once lived in slavery but managed to purchase his freedom and went on to become a Presbyterian minister.
Seeking better opportunities, the family moved north, first to Baltimore, then to Philadelphia, a state that had already begun phasing out slavery before the Revolutionary War. In Philadelphia, William Catto built a reputation as a respected intellectual. He helped found the Banneker Institute, an African American literary society, and later published a history of the city’s First African Presbyterian Church, cementing his place among the community’s leaders.
Octavius Catto’s schooling reflected his father’s commitment to education. He studied at Vaux Primary School, Lombard Grammar School, and later the Allentown Academy in New Jersey, where he was one of the only Black students. Returning to Philadelphia, he enrolled at the Institute for Colored Youth (ICY), a prestigious Quaker-run school where he excelled in classical studies such as Latin, Greek, and mathematics. Catto graduated in 1858 with high praise for his brilliance, discipline, and leadership.
After a year of postgraduate study in Washington, D.C., Catto returned to Philadelphia as a teacher of English and mathematics at the ICY. By 1869, he had risen to become principal of the school’s male department. His commitment to education went beyond the classroom, he viewed it as a weapon against prejudice and as preparation for full citizenship.
Catto argued against white teachers being imposed on Black schools without community consent, insisting that Black children deserved educators who understood their struggles. His speeches, often delivered at commencements and public gatherings, revealed his belief that education and equal rights were inseparable in the fight for racial justice.
The Civil War intensified Catto’s activism. Holding the rank of major in the Union Army, he joined Frederick Douglass and other Black leaders to recruit African American soldiers. Despite facing resistance from white officers, Catto helped organize eleven regiments of United States Colored Troops from the Philadelphia area, ensuring that Black men could fight for their freedom and the Union cause.
After the war, Catto became a leader in Philadelphia’s civil rights movement. He was at the forefront of the battle to desegregate the city’s streetcars, alongside his fiancée, Caroline LeCount, and abolitionist William Still. Through direct action, legal challenges, and lobbying, they won a landmark Pennsylvania law in 1867 banning racial segregation on public transit.
Catto was also deeply engaged in national politics. As a member of the Pennsylvania Equal Rights League, he fought tirelessly for the passage and enforcement of the Fifteenth Amendment, ratified in 1870, which extended voting rights to Black men.
Catto’s talents extended beyond politics and education. He was also a pioneering Black athlete who helped popularize baseball among African Americans. He co-founded the Pythian Base Ball Club, one of the first organized Black baseball teams. In 1869, the Pythians played against an all-white team, marking one of the earliest interracial baseball games in American history.
For Catto, sports were not just recreation, they were another avenue for proving Black excellence and breaking down racial barriers.
The Assassination of Octavius Catto
Philadelphia in the 1870s was a city on edge. The arrival of Irish immigrants, many of whom were fiercely loyal to the Democratic Party, created fierce competition with Black residents for jobs and housing. Political divisions were deep: most Black voters supported the Republican Party, the party of Lincoln and emancipation, while many Irish immigrants supported Democrats who sought to suppress Black political power.
These tensions came to a head during the 1871 mayoral election, pitting Republican William S. Stokley against Democrat James S. Biddle. For Black Philadelphians, the stakes were enormous, voting was not only a civic duty but a hard-won assertion of their rights under the newly ratified Fifteenth Amendment.
On Election Day, October 10, 1871, racial tensions exploded into violence. Democratic gangs roamed the streets, intimidating and assaulting Black voters. Instead of protecting Black citizens, many police officers sided with the aggressors or actively prevented Black citizens from reaching the polls.
That afternoon, as Catto prepared to vote, he was harassed and threatened. Despite carrying a revolver for protection, he was ambushed near Ninth and South Streets by Frank Kelly, an Irish immigrant and Democratic operative. Kelly shot Catto three times in broad daylight, killing him instantly at just 32 years old.
Catto’s assassination sent shockwaves through Philadelphia. Despite multiple eyewitnesses, Frank Kelly was never brought to justice. The murder, combined with the widespread violence that marred Election Day, dealt a severe blow to Black political power in the city, abruptly halting the progress of Reconstruction-era gains and signaling decades of challenges ahead in the fight for civil rights.
Catto was buried with full military honors at Lebanon Cemetery, with thousands in attendance. His funeral procession was one of the largest the city had ever seen, a testament to his impact as a teacher, activist, and leader. Later, his remains were reinterred at Eden Cemetery in Collingdale, Pennsylvania.
In September 2017, nearly 150 years after his death, Philadelphia unveiled a 12-foot bronze statue of Octavius Catto at City Hall, the first public monument in the city dedicated to an African American.
Sources:
Oct. 10, 1871: Octavius Catto Killed on Election Day in Philadelphia
https://www.defense.gov/News/Feature-Stories/Story/Article/2482963/sports-heroes-who-served-army-major-baseball-player-advocated-for-equal-rights/
