Octavious Catto

He helped recruit Black men to fight for the Union Army. Later he was murdered on his way to vote.

Give me a minute and let me tell you a story. Octavius Catto believed that the men who defended American democracy deserved to participate in it.

Born free in Charleston, South Carolina, in 1839, he became an educator at Philadelphia’s Institute for Colored Youth. During the Civil War, Catto helped recruit Black soldiers for the Union Army.

After the war, he challenged segregation on Philadelphia’s streetcars and organized for Black voting rights. The Fifteenth Amendment, ratified in 1870, prohibited denying the right to vote because of race.

But violence continued to threaten Black voters. On October 10, 1871, Catto was walking to a polling place to vote when a white gunman shot and killed him.

A man named Frank Kelly, was eventually arrested and tried for murder, but an all-white jury acquitted him in 1877 Today, at the Independence National Historic Park in Philadelphia, the National Park Service honors Catto with a monument outside City Hall. The story of his service and sacrifice are preserved so we will always remember.

The Joy Trip Project celebrates the enduring legacy of American history. The Unhidden Minute is part of the Unhidden Podcast Project supported through a National Geographic Explorer Grant from the National Geographic Society , with the cooperation of the National Park Service .

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