Charles Burleigh Purvis

Dr. Charles Burleigh Purvis (April 14, 1842 – December 14, 1929) was an African-American physician who resided in Washington, D.C. Among the founders of the medical school at Howard University, he was the first African-American physician to attend a sitting president of the United States when he attended to President James Garfield after he was shot. Purvis was also the first black physician to head a hospital under civilian authority, when he was appointed as surgeon-in-charge of the Freedmen's Hospital that same year, as well as the first African-American person to serve on the D.C. Board of Medical Examiners and the second black instructor at an American medical school. In addition, he was a leading activist in civil rights and universal suffrage movements.

Early life Purvis was born in Philadelphia on April 14, 1842. Purvis's parents were abolitionists Robert Purvis and Harriet Forten Purvis, both free people of color. He was named after the prominent abolitionist and journalist Charles Burleigh. When he was two years old, the family moved to Byberry, a suburb of Philadelphia. Charles was the fifth of eight children and worked on the farm as a young man.

He attended some public schools, but most of his schooling was with the Quakers. He enrolled at Oberlin College in 1860 and stayed for two years but did not finish. In 1862, he entered the Medical College at Western Reserve in Cleveland.

Medical career In 1864, Purvis served in the Union Army in the U.S. Civil War as a military nurse at Camp Barker, which became a model for Freedmen's Hospital. Two months after graduation, he took the position of acting assistant surgeon with a rank of first lieutenant and was assigned to duty in Washington, D.C.

On June 9, 1869, Purvis and Alexander Thomas Augusta were proposed for membership of the Medical Society of D.C., a branch of the American Medical Association. They were considered eligible, but did not receive enough votes. Another black physician, A. W. Tucker, was proposed on June 23, but was also rejected. In response, these three formed the National Medical Society, made up of African Americans.

Purvis and Augusta were among the founders of Howard University Medical School. In the fall of 1868, Purvis was elected professor of materia medica and medical jurisprudence, a position which he held for five years. He was then appointed as chair of obstetrics and diseases of women and children. That year, he was elected secretary to the Medical Faculty. In that role, he was the first black person to head a hospital under civilian authority.

Other activities In Washington, Purvis was close personal friends with many prominent leaders, including Frederick Douglass, Francis J. Grimke, Blanche K. Bruce, and Richard Theodore Greener. In 1881, Purvis joined James Monroe Gregory and George T. Downing in fighting against a proposed law before the U.S. House of Representatives that would create separate schools for black children. The trio created an organization to fight this discrimination. The group gathered many leading civil rights figures, having Frederick Douglass as president, Richard T. Greener as secretary, and also including Frederick G. Barbadoes, John F. Cook, Francis James Grimké, Milton M. Holland, Wiley Lane, William H. Smith, Purvis, Downing, and Gregory. The group was supported by representative Dudley C. Haskell (R-KS) and succeeded in forestalling the proposal.

Purvis was a Mason. He was the first black person to serve on the D. C. Board of Medical Examiners and the second black instructor in an American Medical School. Purvis was criticized for not identifying only with blacks, having light skin, marrying a white woman, and sending his daughter to white public schools in DC.

Personal life Purvis married Ann Hathaway on April 13, 1871. They had two children: Alice, who became a physician, and Robert, who became a dentist. Purvis died in Los Angeles, California, on December 14, 1929. and the 2025 Netflix historical drama miniseries Death by Lightning where he is portrayed by actor Shaun Parkes.