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Tasting Freedom: Octavius Catto and the Battle for Equality in Civil War America

Daniel R. Biddle,

Murray Dubin

4.17 · Rating details · 48 ratings · 14 reviews

Octavius Valentine Catto was an orator who shared stages with Frederick Douglass, a second baseman on Philadelphia's best black baseball team, a teacher at the city's finest black school and an activist who fought in the state capital and on the streets for equal rights. With his racially-charged murder, the nation lost a civil rights pioneer - one who risked his life a ce ...more

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Hardcover, 656 pages

Published August 13th 2010 by Temple University Press (first published January 1st 2010)

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Jan 13, 2019 Richard rated it it was ok

Shelves: 19th-century-america, african-american, philadelphia

This book really is not, despite its claims, a biography of Octavius Catto. Sure, there are multiple pages devoted to him, but I'd say that at most 20 per cent of the book is about Catto.

So what is the book about? I'd say it tells the story of African Americans in the Northern United States during the middle decades of the 19th Century. It has a primary, not not exclusive, focus on events in Philadelphia. It's a worthy subject for a book, especially the accounts of the abolition movement, the f ...more

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Aug 04, 2011 Charles Stephen rated it really liked it

Recent history texts of The American Civil Rights Movement have tended to roll back its timeline before 1954 and expand its cast of heroes. Well, this book is about a civil rights leader whose murder came six years after the assassination of a great American President. Oh, you might think, another book about MLK and JFK. Biddle and Dubin are writing about the death of Octavius Valentine Catto in Philadelphia in 1871, six years after Abraham Lincoln’s assassination.

Expertly researched, this book ...more

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Apr 07, 2020 James rated it it was amazing

Biddle and Dubin, two journalists, wrote this book which explores the battles in Philadelphia between the multiracial abolitionists and their opponents in Irish diaspora and Democratic Party allies. The book, as others have noted, is not just about Octavius Catto but about the multigenerational effort to bring about the abolition of slavery and bring about full participation of Black Americans as citizens in the middle 19th century. The narrative goes roughly from the 1840s-1871, ending with the Biddle and Dubin, two journalists, wrote this book which explores the battles in Philadelphia between the multiracial abolitionists and their opponents in Irish diaspora and Democratic Party allies. The book, as others have noted, is not just about Octavius Catto but about the multigenerational effort to bring about the abolition of slavery and bring about full participation of Black Americans as citizens in the middle 19th century. The narrative goes roughly from the 1840s-1871, ending with the assassination of Catto on election day which brought the Republicans to power in Philadelphia. Catto was a giant in what can be termed the first civil rights movement that arose from both the abolitionist movement and the transformation of the Civil War.

The book begins with the torching of Pennsylvania Hall near 4th and Lombard during an abolitionist event by a mob of Irish rioters. Biddle and Dubin explore why the Irish became so racist towards Black Americans, arguing that they both sought to make sure they were not at the bottom of society but also because the Democratic Party with its southern slaveholding leadership and northern conservatives sought to include the Irish as citizens. Through that portal and exposure of white supremacy in the Democratic Party, as well as the nativism of the Whigs/Republicans, the Irish became very anti-Black and loyal Democrats.

On the otherhand, circles of abolitionists included radicals and moral opposition to slavery as well as nativist white opposition to competition with white people. Abolitionists operated pacifist resistance that grew bolder as the national consensus broke down over co-existence between the North and South. Conservative Democratic politicians argued that opponents to slavery would spark a race war and better to leave Black Americans in "mild slavery" as Pennsylvania Democrat James Buchanan argued before he became President. Meanwhile, the Reverand William Catto moved his young family from South Carolina in 1848, as more southern states forceably expelled free blacks, and he became involved in abolitionist circles. His son, Octavius, would become active in Black professional literary circles, anti-slavery organizations, black baseball teams (like the Pythians), and mobilizing Black volunteers to join the union army during the Civil War.

Biddle and Dubin note that, as President Buchanan actively seem to side with the South to expand slavery, John Brown's raid on Harper's Ferry, while failing at sparking a larger slave insurrection, did help mobilize both white and black abolitionists, as well as push the Southern white supremists over the edge into paranoia about "the next John Brown." When Lincoln was elected, it was too much for the South, and Civil War was on. Catto and other black organizers helped push Lincoln to making it a war of abolition, year by year, and not at all at first.

By the end of the war, Black voters were firmly Republicans, though the ability to vote would be challenged on the ground at every turn. Catto helped push the first Civil Rights movement in Philadelphia by pushing for the integration of new street cars, which was a long battle from 1866 on that would cost lives and create riots by whites. Finally, when Catto helped bring the Republicans to power, he was murdered by an Irishman who was never convicted for his murder by white juries, though he all but admitted he killed Catto and other African-Americans.

This book is long and well researched. While not just the story of Catto, Biddle and Dubin do a fabulous job illustrated the violent race relations in Philadelphia, and the struggle to achieve real freedom and equality, while unfinished, has seen victories paved with blood of men like Catto. Recently, a statue of him went up in Philadelphia, and it was long overdue. ...more

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Jul 22, 2018 Drick rated it it was amazing

Shelves: history, race-ethnic-studies

This book is an important addition to the history of racism, the Civil War and Civil Rights in the US. While the title suggests that the book focuses solely on the life and work of Octavius Catto, it is much more than that. It really is a history of the black struggle for freedom and basic human rights in the decades leading up the Civil War and the first 10 years after the war, leading up to the passage of the 15th Amendment which gave the vote to African Americans. The first 100 pages focus on This book is an important addition to the history of racism, the Civil War and Civil Rights in the US. While the title suggests that the book focuses solely on the life and work of Octavius Catto, it is much more than that. It really is a history of the black struggle for freedom and basic human rights in the decades leading up the Civil War and the first 10 years after the war, leading up to the passage of the 15th Amendment which gave the vote to African Americans. The first 100 pages focus on William Catto, the father of Octavius, who in his own right was courageous leader in Charleston, SC and then Philadelphia. Then the story focuses on a cadre of young scholar-leader-activists that included Catto and many more who led the fight for racial justice in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and along the Eastern seaboard. There are chapters that focus on abolitionists like William Lloyd Garrison, Angelina & Sarah Grimke, Lucretia Mott, Theodore Weld and more. There is a chapter on Frederick Douglass and another on John Brown, the towering abolitionist figures of their era, and a chapter on the lukewarm support for abolition from Abraham Lincoln.

What is so important about the book is that it dispels all the false impressions of the smooth transition from slavery to freedom for blacks in the US. Catto and his colleagues worked for passage of a bill that allowed blacks to ride street cars, but even when the law was passed, the enforcement of the law was at best weak and so blacks were routinely beaten and killed for exercising their rights. The climax comes when Catto was killed on voting day by white mobs, mostly Irish, who controlled South Philadelphia and routinely used violence to intimidate blacks to maintain their power. It also shows how the Republican support for giving blacks the right to vote was very politically motivated. They figured most blacks would vote Republican and so add to their political dominance after the war.

What is most troubling is that the patterns of racist behavior existing today, have their counterparts 150 years ago: police violence against blacks, voter suppression, and under-resourcing education, the need for black teachers for black students, the role of the black church and the courage of some white allies.

An interesting sidebar was the formation of the first Negro baseball league who for a brief time were able to play white teams like the Philadelphia Athletics. Among all that he did, Catto was also a 2nd baseman on the Negro baseball team, the Pythians.

All in all this is a must-read for every Philadelphian who walks by the newly constructive Octavius Catto statue south of City Hall, and to every person who has yet to grasp the pernicious hatred embedded in our country's ongoing battle against racism. ...more

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Jan 19, 2018 Alexander rated it really liked it

Octavius catto is a person who helped with black getting the right to vote. He died on Election Day. He got shot by Frank Kelly. His whole life is very interesting to read. Not that many people know about him.

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Nov 16, 2017 Mary Durben rated it liked it

Much good information here about a number of less well known figures in the fight for civil rights, including Octavius Catto, but may be too detailed for some. It seemed to take a long time to get to the story of Octavius, and a long time to finish the book.

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Jun 26, 2018 Craig rated it really liked it

Well written overview of many lesser-known but important pioneers of the first civil rights movement. Well researched but a slow read.

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Jan 25, 2015 Lisa Tracy rated it it was amazing

"Tasting Freedom" by Dan Biddle and Murray Dubin is an indelible portrait of a man whose life spanned the last days of legal slavery in this country and the beginning of hard-won freedom. It was in that quest for freedom, on the streets of Philadelphia, that Octavius Catto lost his life. "Tasting Freedom" is a riveting slice of American history, beautifully told and offering very valuable background for the struggle for equality that continues today. Bravo, Messrs. Biddle and Dubin! Lisa Tracy ...more

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Mar 13, 2016 FM rated it liked it

Shelves: american-history, biography

A very interesting and detailed book centered around the people who fought against slavery and oppression in the early 1800s. While the book title focuses specifically on Octavius Catto, the reader is introduced to many, many fascinating people. Almost too many--adding a list of people mentioned in the book would have been helpful in keeping track of everyone. At 500+ pages, the book offers a detailed look at life for African-Americans in the early 19th century but was perhaps a bit too detailed ...more

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Sep 22, 2010 Beverly rated it liked it

Another helpful tile in the grand and complex mosaic of African American History. It also had personal resonance because Catto was friend of my great great grandmother and the book includes poem he wrote to her. My cousin Lillie is also interviewed in the book.

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Sep 14, 2010 JoAnn Jordan rated it it was amazing

Shelves: books-read-in-2010

This is an excellent book on the civil rights movement of the 1800's. The history is told in very interesting prose.

I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in the 1800's and especially those interested in Afro-American history. I found it riveting. ...more

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Sep 30, 2010 Brad rated it really liked it

Shelves: abandoned

Very good book but I just couldn't finish it. Maybe someday. Highly recommended for folks who want to learn more about the African-American freedom struggle in the 19th century. ...more

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May 25, 2015 Laura rated it liked it

Very detailed, at times repetitive, but I learned a great deal about a part of our nation's history - and the people involved in it - that our history textbooks have neglected. ...more

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