Many heroes in struggle for civil rights

By Mike Fitzpatrick

On New Year's Day 1863, President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation stating that "all persons held as slaves . . . shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free."

With this sweeping action, the first Republican president cemented the Civil War as one fought over the self-evident truth that all men are created equal under the law and, in doing so, inspired generations of civil rights leaders.

This Black History Month, we remember and honor the legacy of civil rights pioneers like Octavius V. Catto and recommit ourselves to the values and truths for which they struggled.

Catto, a Philadelphia educator and community leader, took up the cause of equal rights with fervor. Born a free black man in South Carolina, he moved his family north to Pennsylvania - a state that had abolished slavery following the Revolutionary War and was home to abolitionist "Radical Republicans" like Rep. Thaddeus Stevens, whose district then included Bucks County.

Working with Frederick Douglass and others before and during the war, Catto advocated for abolition and equal rights for all citizens and helped form a recruitment committee to enlist Philadelphia's black men for the Union Army.

In July 1863, seven months after Lincoln's proclamation, the Confederate army invaded Pennsylvania, and at Gettysburg reached the high-water mark of its northern offensive. At word of the invasion and the governor's call for volunteers, Catto sprung into action. Working again with Douglass, as well as the Philadelphia Union League, Catto recruited hundreds of area men to serve in the U.S. Colored Troops.

Following the war, Catto worked tirelessly to advance the late President Lincoln's goal of equality for all. His fight for the desegregation of city trolleys - in one incident he refused to leave a trolley car after objections over his race were raised - could be seen as a precursor to Rosa Parks' famous civil disobedience on a Montgomery, Ala., bus nearly 100 years later.

In 1870, Catto would passionately advocate for the ratification of the 15th Amendment, which expanded voting rights. This was the same year he was commissioned a major in the Fifth Brigade of the Pennsylvania National Guard, making him the highest-ranking black Army officer of his day.

On Election Day 1871, amid racial mob violence, Catto was shot and killed on South Street near his home as he was preparing to muster his troops to help defend voters in his community from intimidation and attacks. This was a martyr's death for a man whose life was dedicated to the ideas of freedom and equality, regardless of skin color. He was just 32 years old.

While Catto's death was a tragedy, his patriotic spirit and inspiring story continue to provide an example of a life well-lived and lessons that reach far beyond the City of Brotherly Love. Each year, Catto's service and sacrifice are remembered with the presentation of the Maj. Octavius V. Catto Medal Award at the Union League, which recognizes soldiers and airmen of the Pennsylvania National Guard for "exemplifying professionalism, a sincere devotion to duty, volunteerism to the community, and for encouraging respect for individual diversity."

Today, as a congressman holding the same seat once held by Rep. Stevens and a member of the party of Lincoln, I am committed to advancing the cause of equality and promoting all efforts to increase access to the American dream for all - including that quintessential American act of voting.

This year, we will mark the 50th anniversary of the landmark Voting Rights Act, which ensured access to the ballot box for millions of Americans, in part by requiring jurisdictions with a history of racial discrimination to obtain federal approval before amending their voting laws.

A half century later, our country, while not perfect, has changed. Citing this change, the Supreme Court struck down a part of the Voting Rights Act that was based on decades-old voting and registration data. The court declared that the Congress must update the data and formula used to determine which jurisdictions require pre-clearance. In response, I joined a bipartisan group to introduce the Voting Rights Amendment Act, which would modernize and strengthen the original law in a way that is constitutional and based on current conditions.

Protecting the right to free and fair elections is a fitting tribute to those African American leaders who came before us, including the great American, Maj. Octavius V. Catto of Philadelphia.