On New Year’s Day 1863, President Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation stating that “all persons held as slaves… shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free.”

With this sweeping action, the first Republican president cemented the ongoing Civil War as one over the self-evident truth that all men are created equal under the law and, in doing so, inspired a generation of civil rights leaders.

This Black History Month, we remember and honor the legacy of civil rights pioneers like Octavius V. Catto and recommit ourselves to the values and truths for which they struggled.

Catto, a Philadelphia educator and community leader, took up the cause of equal rights with fervor. Born a free black man in South Carolina, he moved his family north to Pennsylvania — a state that had abolished slavery following the Revolutionary War and was home to abolitionist ‘Radical Republicans’ like Rep. Thaddeus Stevens.

Working with the great Fredrick Douglas and others leading up to, and in the early years of the war, Catto advocated for abolition, equal rights for all citizens and helped form a recruitment committee to enlist Philadelphia’s black men for the Union army and the fight for emancipation.

In July of 1863, seven months after Lincoln’s proclamation, the Confederate army invaded Pennsylvania, and at Gettysburg reached the high-water mark of their northern offensive. At word of the invasion and the governor’s call for volunteers, Catto sprung to raise a company of black volunteers to support the Union army. He once again joined Douglas and, along with the Philadelphia Union League, recruited hundreds of area men to serve in the United States Colored Troops.

Following the war, Catto worked tirelessly to advance the late President Lincoln’s goal of equality for all. His fight for the desegregation of city trolleys — one which saw him refuse to leave a trolley car after objections over his race — could be seen as a precursor to Rosa Parks’ famous civil disobedience on a Montgomery, Alabama bus nearly 100 years later. And in 1870, he would passionately advocate for the ratification of the 15th amendment expanding voting rights — the same year he was commissioned a Major in the 5th Brigade of the Pennsylvania National Guard, the highest ranking Black officer in the army at the time.

On Election Day 1871, amidst racial mob violence, Catto was shot and killed on South Street near his own home while going to change into his uniform and muster his troops to help defend voters in his community from intimidation and violence. A martyr’s death for a man whose life was dedicated to the ideas of freedom and equality, regardless of skin color. He was just 32 years old.

While Catto’s death was a tragedy, his patriotic spirit and inspiring story continue to provide an example of a life well-lived and lessons that reach far beyond the City of Brotherly Love. Each year, Catto’s service and sacrifice is remembered with the presentation of the Major Octavius V. Catto Medal Award at the Union League recognizing soldiers and airmen of the Pennsylvania National Guard for “exemplifying professionalism, a sincere devotion to duty, volunteerism to the community, and for encouraging respect for individual diversity.”

Today, as a Congressman holding the same seat once held by Rep. Stevens and a member of the party of Lincoln, I am committed to advancing the cause of equality and promoting all efforts to increase access to the American dream for all — including that quintessential American act of voting.

In 1965, the landmark Voting Rights Act was signed into law, ensuring access to the ballot box for millions of Americans, in part, by requiring certain jurisdictions with a history of racial discrimination to obtain federal approval before amending their voting laws.

Now, nearly 50 years later our country, while not perfect, has changed. Citing this change, the Supreme Court struck down part of the Voting Rights Act which was based on decades old data. The Court declared the Congress must update the data and formula used to determine which jurisdictions require pre-clearance. In response, I joined a bipartisan group in Congress to introduce the ‘Voting Rights Amendment Act’ [H.R. 885] which modernizes and strengthens the Voting Rights Act in a way that is constitutional and based on current conditions.

Protecting the right to free and fair elections is a fitting tribute to those African-American leaders who came before us, including the great American, Major Octavius V. Catto of Philadelphia.