The Octavius Catto Scholarship

Issa Kabeer

March 28 2024

Community College is a beautiful place to start an academic journey. It allows the doors to be opened towards new opportunities. We are now in the month of Black History Month and the thought of civil rights advocacy arises from it. At Community College of Philadelphia one of these Civil Rights pioneers arises from the 19^th century. His name is Octavius Catto and he advocated for civil rights and education. Octavius Catto was taken too soon from the rest of the world from tragedy as he was assassinated by Frank Kelly in 1871.  However, his legacy is not lost in time but memorialized at CCP. There is a scholarship called the Catto Scholarship.  

Dr. Generals had a meeting on Catto for Black history month. We discussed how there is coalition named after Roger B. Taney, who was a supreme court justice and ruled for Separate but Equal in the Dred v. Scot ruling, and has a street named after him, instead of someone connected to Philadelphia. This brought up Catto’s fiancé Caroline LeCount who is a civil rights hero in her own right. According to WHYY she was the first Black woman in the Philadelphia area to pass the city’s teacher exam, a supporter of the Union during the Civil War, and an activist who fought to desegregate Philadelphia’s streetcars. Octavius Catto was an African American teacher, civil rights activist, and he helped organize one of America’s first baseball league Philadelphia’s convention of Baseball clubs in 1868. He is the son of a North Carolina slave who was manumitted. Descending from a distinguished Charleston, SC mulatto family, Catto became a Presbyterian minister and moved to North Philadelphia as a child with his family. Octavious Catto is remembered today as a civil leader.  In fact, Catto was instrumental in the culminating in battle of Gettysburg, when the Confederates invaded Philadelphia in 1863, he raised black troops to under the U.S War department authority granted by the Emancipation proclamation alongside Frederick Douglass. Catto was influential in political change and equality, gaining equal access on public transportation by using passive resistance and political influence within the Republican party.

Knowing of the tragedy of his life and work for equality, this opportunity offers education to everyone. What is the Catto scholarship? The Catto Scholarship was started in Spring of 2021. It is anti-poverty initiative in the engagement. As Catto sought in life for those to be educated, this scholarship seeks to do the same. Students who are accepted are called Catto Scholars. It is an amazing one stop shop scholarship. Catto Scholars get all kinds of support outside of tuition: such as support with books, food transportation and other out of pocket costs like housing and childcare. They also will have access to career coaches who will help them from the starting line get to the finish line. In discussing with members of the Catto scholarship. For them it was deeply supportive and formative environment that fostered community and family for those with the scholarship.  

However, there are certain stipulations one must have. Applicants are limited by how many credits they have and means they have, so it is important that these qualifications are met. They must be new first-time students. They must be a transfer student with less than 30 credits. Further they need a high school diploma or GED equivalent. Students need to attend CCP with 12+ credits per semester. They need to be a resident of Philadelphia for at least 12 months have a GPA of 2.0 with good academic standing. Students must complete FASFA and have a family contribution of 8000 or less. Returning students who have these checked off are encouraged to join.  

If one meets these requirements the Catto Scholarship is named after an amazing man that supports an amazing opportunity to be successful in college, it’s worth it to apply. If you have the qualifications needed to apply for Catto scholarship, click the link to begin your application process.