Murder of Black suffrage leader Octavius Catto reveals why Election Day 1871 was one of the most violent in Philadelphia history
Philadelphia has given the intersection of 8th and South streets a new name: Octavius Catto Way.
On October 8, 2026, Philadelphia officially renamed an intersection at the site of Octavius Catto's assassination, celebrating the life of the Black suffrage leader who was slain in 1871. Catto, an abolitionist, teacher, and civil rights advocate, was an influential figure in Philadelphia's fight for equality. Born in South Carolina in 1839, his family moved north to Baltimore before settling in Philadelphia, where Catto became a prominent teacher, baseball player, and civil rights leader.
Throughout his life, Catto fought for desegregation, voting rights, and the desegregation of streetcars and the Franklin Institute. His activism, however, was met with violent opposition, especially after the ratification of the 15th Amendment in 1870, which granted voting rights to citizens regardless of their race or previous condition of servitude.
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