CIVIL RIGHTS HERO ASSASSINATED
ON ELECTION DAY 1871

Countless African martyrs have shed their blood to liberate our people. Today's hero is Octavius Valentine Catto (1839-71). Born in Charleston, South Carolina, Catto grew to be a prominent activist, scholar, athlete and military officer.

While raising 11 regiments of 'Colored Troops' for the Union army during the US Civil War, he championed Black self-determination, including helping establish a Black literary and debate society named after Black mathematician Benjamin Banneker called the Banneker Literary Institute and the Pennsylvania Equal Rights League. Catto also started a movement in Philadelphia that led to the passage of an 1867 Pennsylvania law prohibiting racially segregated public transportation. That year, Catto co-founded the city's second Black baseball team, the Philadelphia Pythians.