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The Fifteenth Amendment
A portrait of Octavius Catto, an African American activist, educator, and political organizer, ca.1871.

A portrait of Octavius Catto, an African American activist, educator, and political organizer, ca.1871.

In addition to his work as a political organizer and educator, Catto worked with Frederick Douglass as a recruiter for black regiments during the Civil War. Catto was a supporter of the Republican Party and an advocate for the Fifteenth Amendment. Although Pennsylvania was a free state prior to the Civil War, African American men’s right to vote had been rescinded by the state legislature in 1838. For the city’s first election following the Fifteenth Amendment, Catto led a campaign encouraging Philadelphia’s African American community to vote. On election day, Octavius Catto was shot and killed by Frank Kelly, a Democratic Party agent.

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Citation Information
Broadbent, Samuel and Henry C. Phillips, “Octavius Catto,” Digital Public Library of America, https://dp.la/item/f21e6a4efb52c0ff5f94f7ad9c8d2889.
Note: These citations are programmatically generated and may be incomplete.
Courtesy of National Portrait Gallery via Smithsonian Institution.

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Item 9 of 15 in the Primary Source Set The Fifteenth Amendment

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The joint resolution of the United States Congress proposing the Fifteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, December 7, 1868.
A resolution by the Georgia state legislature to ratify the Fifteenth Amendment, February 2, 1870.
An 1870 print depicting the celebration of the Fifteenth Amendment as well as vignettes that represent the significance of the amendment.
An 1870 print depicting the celebration of the Fifteenth Amendment as well as vignettes that represent the significance of the amendment.
Lyrics for “The Fifteenth Amendment” by African American songwriter Joshua McCarter Simpson.
An excerpt from a speech by Henry McNeal Turner in Macon, Georgia on April 19, 1870 regarding the benefits of the Fifteenth Amendment.
A portrait of Henry McNeal Turner, Bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, ca.1880s.
A letter from April 1870, written by Samuel May to Richard Davis Webb, mentioning Boston’s celebration of the Fifteenth Amendment.
A portrait of Octavius Catto, an African American activist, educator, and political organizer, ca.1871.
An excerpt from a pamphlet called The Trial of Frank Kelly For The Assassination and Murder of Octavius V. Catto, on October 10, 1871.
An 1869 broadside in response to the proposed Fifteenth Amendment, titled “Republicans! Democrats! A Word with you about Negro Suffrage.”
A print depicting the first African American senator and representatives, who served in the Forty-First and Forty-Second Congresses, 1872.
An excerpt from a 1905 essay by A. H. Grimké called “The Meaning and Need of the Movement to Reduce Southern Representation.”
Robert S. Anderson’s poll tax receipt, Memphis, Tennessee, April 25, 1940.
An article titled “Free the Ballot,” about voting rights during the civil rights movement, from Memphis World newspaper, February 13, 1960.

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