PHILADELPHIA (AP) – A century before the fight to end Jim Crow segregation laws, Octavius Valentine Catto was leading a civil rights movement in Philadelphia.
The 19th-century educator and activist fought for a better education for black students, led efforts to desegregate the city’s street cars and pushed for equal voting rights – all before he was killed at age 32. His contributions to American democracy rival some of the country’s most celebrated patriots, yet his story has remained largely unknown.
“We know more about Rocky – who’s not even a real person – than we know about Octavius, which says a lot,” said Democratic Mayor Jim Kenney, who first learned of Catto’s story as a young city councilman. “Of course, we all know about Benjamin Franklin and all the things that he did, because we’re taught about him. There were scores of these people throughout history, and it’s important to understand that there were people other than the Founding Fathers who contributed greatly to this country.”
On Tuesday, the city will laud Catto’s legacy with a statue in the shadow of City Hall – the first such named tribute for an African-American in a public space in Philadelphia. The honor comes amid a national conversation about Confederate memorials, and about who is an American hero and how and where the country chooses to celebrate them.
Philadelphia is in the midst of its own debate on the issue. Catto’s statue stands just several hundred yards from a sculpture of former Mayor Frank Rizzo, whose complicated racial legacy has led some to argue that his likeness should be removed from city property. After racial violence erupted last month in Charlottesville, Virginia, where protesters gathered to oppose the removal of a statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee, debate over Rizzo’s fate have resurfaced.