Octavius Valentine Catto (February 22, 1839 – October 10, 1871) was an American educator, intellectual, and civil rights activist. He became Dean of students at the Institute for Colored Youth (ICY) now Cheney University of Pennsylvania, where he had also been educated.  After completing his education, he became a brilliant educator, and active in the Equal Rights movement in the age of Emancipation. He also became known as a professional level baseball player in 19th-century Philadelphia. He helped organize, played and managed for the Philadelphia Pythians baseball team.
He was shot and killed on October 10^th 1871, where ethnic Irish of the Democratic Party, who were anti-Reconstruction and had opposed black suffrage, attacked black men to prevent their voting.
A formal and official state funeral and burial was held for Major Catto uniting the city in grief for a great America. In 2012, the Pennsylvania National Guard revived the Major Catto Medal for deserving Guardsmen to honor the memory of Octavius V. Catto.

Date: Wednesday, December 9, 2026
Instructor: Anthony Waskie

Time: 6:30 – 8:30 pm