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Biography · Education & Scholarship

Octavius Catto

1839–1871

United States

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Biography

Octavius Valentine Catto (February 22, 1839 – October 10, 1871) was an American educator, intellectual, and civil rights activist. 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.

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Biography text · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source checked 2026-10-13

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