Octavius Catto
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Octavius V. Catto (1840–10 October 1871) was a key 19th Century Civil Rights advocate and one of the prominent early organizers of black baseball.
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[edit] Early life
Catto was born to free African American parents in Charleston, South Carolina. His father, William Catto, was a Presbyterian minister; his mother, Sara Cane, belonged to a family with a long history in the state. He was raised in the North, where he attended the Academy in Allentown, New Jersey and the Institute for Colored Youth (now Cheyney University of Pennsylvania). From the latter school he graduated valedictorian in 1858. After private language study in Washington, D. C., Catto returned to the Institute as a teacher and as assistant to the principal, Ebenezer Bassett. Catto delivered the commencement address at the school in 1864.
[edit] Civil War
At the same time, the turmoil of the Civil War sharpened Catto's interest in civil rights. He founded the Banneker Literary Institute and the Equal Rights League in Philadelphia in October 1864. He was largely responsible for the adoption of the Bill of Rights for equal access to the public transportation in the city. His equal rights crusade was capped in October of 1870 when Pennsylvania passed the 15th Amendment guaranteeing voting rights for black men.
During the Civil War, Catto joined with Frederick Douglass and other prominent black leaders to form a Recruitment Committee to convince young black men to fight for their emancipation. After the Confederate invasion of Pennsylvania in 1863, Catto helped raise a company of black volunteers for the defense of the state; their help, however, was refused by the staff of Darius N. Couch on the grounds that the men were not authorized to fight. Couch was later corrected by Edwin M. Stanton, but not until the aspiring soldiers had returned to Philadelphia Eventually, acting with Douglass and the Union League, he helped raise eleven regiments of 'Colored Troops' in the Philadelphia area. These men were sent to the front and many saw action. Catto himself was commissioned a major but did not fight.
The war confirmed Catto in his Republicanism and in his devotion to the cause of civil rights. In 1864, he became corresponding secretary of the Pennsylvania Civil Rights League. In this role he achieved his most notable successes and undertook the actions that led to his early death. Immediately after the war, Catto fought for the desegregation of Philadelphia's mass transit system. Enlisting the help of Thaddeus Stevens and William D. Kelley, Catto was instrumental in the passing of a bill banning transit segregation in Pennsylvania. A fine levied against a conductor who refused to admit Catto's fiancee helped establish the new law in practice.
After Bassett left the Institute (to become ambassador to Haiti) in 1869, Catto lobbied to replace him as principal of the school. The Board, however, chose Fanny Jackson Coppin, another teacher at the school. Catto's disappointment was registered in his attempts to find another position; however, by the end of the 1860s he had begun to gain national prominence as a civil rights activist. He was admitted to the Franklin Institute in 1870, and the Institute refused to rescind his membership even after a local chemistry professor, B. Howard Rand, severed his connection with the Institute.
[edit] Death
In the fall of 1871, Catto was in Philadelphia teaching. On election day (October 10), fights broke out among black and white voters; black voters, who were largely Republican, faced intimidation and violence from white voters, partisans of the city's Democratic machine. City police, called on to quell the violence, in many cases exacerbated it, using their power to prevent black citizens from voting. A Lieutenant Haggerty was later placed under arrest for having encouraged police under his command to prevent African Americans from voting.
On his way to vote, Catto was intermittently harassed by whites. Police reports indicate that he purchased a revolver for protection. At the intersection of Ninth Street and South Street, he was accosted by a white man, Frank Kelly, who shot him three times. The inquest was not able to determine if Catto had pulled his own gun. Kelly was not convicted of the crime.
Catto's military funeral was well attended, but his death marked the beginning of a decline in black militancy in Philadelphia.
[edit] Baseball
On the baseball field, he played for local clubs from the 1860s to 1871, but was known more for his skill as a promoter and manager. He helped establish the city as a major hub of black baseball and ran the Philadelphia Pythians. After the Pythians won the 1867 "Colored World Championship," he sent representatives to the National Association of Baseball Players (NABBP) to request the acceptance into its ranks. The NABBP did the opposite and barred all black clubs and teams with black ball players. This act was one of several imposed at various levels throughout the sport that codified a "color line" which segregated Major League Baseball until 1947. It was also a catalyst for the developement of Negro Leagues baseball in the early 20th Century.
[edit] Memorial
On June 14, 2006, The Board of Trustees of the O.V. Catto Memorial Fund announced the kickoff of a $1.5 million fundraising campaign to erect a memorial statue to Catto. The Abraham Lincoln Foundation made the first contribution, which was $25,000. The O.V. Catto Memorial will be located on the apron of Philadelphia City Hall. It will be the first public sculpture to honor an African American in Philadelphia.
[edit] External links
- (http://www.cattomemorial.org/)
- (http://www.pacscl.org/catto/)
- (http://www.cattomemorial.org/0606press/release.html)
[edit] References
- Lane, Roger. William Dorsey's Philadelphia and Ours: On the Past and Future of the Black City in America. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1991.
- Silcox, Harry. "Nineteenth Century Black Militant: Octavius Catto." Pennsylvania History 44 (1977): 53-76.
- Waskie, Andy. "Forgotten Black Hero of Philadelphia." <http://isc.temple.edu/awaskie/>
