Octavius Catto Octavius Valentine Catto (February 22 1839  October 10 1871) was a black educator intellectual and civil rights activist in Philadelphia. He became principal of male students at the Institute for Colored Youth where he had also been educated. Born free in Charleston South Carolina in a prominent mixed-race family he moved north as a boy with his family. He became educated and served as a teacher becoming active in civil rights. As a man he also became known as a top cricket…