Page 44 - WilmU Spring Summer 2013

he had ambitions of becoming a published
author. His colleague Dubin was researching
a book on the history of South Philadelphia,
and Ca o came up. Later on, Biddle heard a
historian talking on the radio about life for blacks
in the city, and Ca o’s name was dropped again.
The two newsmen thought there might be
something more there.
So they set out on a journey that began with
one question: Why is Ca o’s story so obscure?
In an interview with Temple University Press,
publisher of “Tasting Freedom,” the authors said,
“Ca o is li le known because he died so young,
before he had a chance to become prominent
on the national scene. We both thought his life
was extraordinary.”
It took seven years for the pair to research,
write, pitch and publish their book. Biddle jokes
that while he and Dubin are listed as co-authors
on the cover, “Google should’ve had the third
byline.” Biddle also insists, despite the painstak-
ing research, time and resources that went into
writing “Tasting Freedom,” he and Dubin are not
historians. They’re journalists.
“As newspaper reporters, we live for a good
story,” Biddle said. “In reporting work, nothing’s
be er than when you find something out and
you think to yourself, ‘I know right away that
this is a good story.’ If it’s a story that’s not been
widely told yet, and you could be the one to tell
it to a lot of people, that makes it twice as good.”
During his research, Biddle said, he realized
he knew very li le about 19th-century black
life. What he discovered about Ca o, and the
conditions he endured in his 32 years, surprised,
angered and inspired him.
Ca o was a teacher at the Institute for
Colored Youth, a groundbreaking school in
Philadelphia that defied the notion many whites
held at the time – that blacks did not deserve an
education. Particularly remarkable was the fact
that in this school, black teachers were trusted
to teach black students.
“That had never really been tried before
in the United States, and it was so radical and
experimental that the people who ran it were
afraid from day to day that people would be
throwing rocks at the windows, or at least
impeding kids on their way to school,” Biddle
said.
Philadelphia was Union territory, and the
war was over by the time Ca o came of age.
This is a poster that hung outside
a shop in downtown Philadelphia,
urging blacks to join the military.
WILMINGTON UNIVERSIT Y MAGAZINE