When Carla Cain sees the statue of Octavius Catto outside City Hall, she sees a hero—and a calling. “He’s my hero because he died fighting for what he believed in,” she says.

Catto’s statue is the first of an African-American in Philadelphia. A distinguished scholar, he fought for the right of African-Americans to vote—in the mid-1800s, before the Civil War! He was killed outside a polling station on 700 South Street on Election Day, October 10, 1871. He was only 32 years old.

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