In 2017, Philadelphia dedicated a memorial to Octavius Catto (born 1839) at City Hall. Catto was an African American civil rights activist from Philadelphia who worked to raise the status of black Philadelphians and integrate city and American institutions. He recruited African Americans to serve in the Union Army during the Civil War.
Catto was instrumental in the passage of a Pennsylvania bill that ended segregation on transit systems in the state. He also fought for passage of the 15th amendment, which provided suffrage to black men. The 15th amendment was fully ratified in 1870. On October 10, 1871, he was murdered at 9th & South St. while on his way to vote in the city's mayoral election.
A nationally known figure at the time of his death at just 32 years of age, Catto’s funeral procession was the largest the city had ever seen other than that of Abraham Lincoln a few years earlier.
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