[1] A quote from Catto is written on the front of pillars: "There must come a change which shall force upon this nation that course which providence seems wisely to be directing for the mutual benefit of peoples.

[2] He protested to desegregate Philadelphia's trolley system, recruited African Americans to join the Union Army during the American Civil War, and campaigned for Pennsylvania to ratify the Fifteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which banned voting discrimination based on race.

[3] He also taught at the Institute for Colored Youth, helped found the Philadelphia Pythians baseball team, and served as a major in the National Guard.

[5][6] Many news outlets noted that Catto had not previously been mentioned in schools and textbooks,[5][6] with journalist Vladimir Duthiers saying that he had been "erased from history".

According to the magazine Philadelphia, "[t]raffic choked the streets around City Hall as hundreds of people descended on the building to catch a glimpse of the new memorial.