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.
At the age of 32, he was assassinated alongside other Africans on election day, 10 October 1871, as they attempted to vote. Democratic Party operative Frank Kelly shot Catto through the heart. Authorities found him six years later to stand trial. Despite six eyewitness testimonies, an all-white jury acquitted Kelly.