The Civil War veteran was also a scholar, educator, and athlete. He fought for a better education for African Americans, led efforts to desegregate the streetcar and pushed for equal rights.
Catto was shot and killed at age 32.
"Octavius Catto was a true American hero. Like many unheralded black American heroes, he should be revered and recognized. Their lives and accomplishments should be part of the curriculum of our schools, not just during the shortest month of the year," Mayor Jim Kenney said.
Catto was born free on February 22, 1839, in Charleston, South Carolina, and moved to Philadelphia as a child. In 1858, he graduated as valedictorian from what would become Cheyney University, the nation's oldest historically black college, and became an English and math teacher at his alma mater.
By his early 20s, Catto already was an influential black Philadelphian, serving in the Pennsylvania National Guard during the Civil War and recruiting blacks to serve in the Army. He also was a pioneering athlete, helping to establish Philadelphia as a major hub of the Negro Leagues and pushing to integrate baseball decades before Jackie Robinson would break the sport's color barrier.
Catto's work advocating for voting rights would ultimately bring about his untimely death. He worked to get Pennsylvania to ratify the 15th Amendment guaranteeing the right to vote for black men. On October 10, 1871 - the first Election Day blacks were allowed to vote - Catto was shot to death on his doorstep by Irish-American ward bosses.
Kenney, who has Irish-American roots, has championed the memorial since his days on City Council. It will be the first public sculpture at City Hall since a statue of retailer John Wanamaker was installed in 1923.
I've also never seen it. Don't mind me, I'm on a stupid streak today.
