James Webb Curtis

James Webb Curtis, M.D. (July 29, 1856 – April 12, 1921), also known as J. Webb Curtis, was an American physician, surgeon, civil servant, educator, and postmaster. He served as a volunteer medical officer for the U.S. Army during the Spanish–American War, stationed in Cuba and in the Philippines. He was, "the only 'colored' surgeon in the service" during that conflict. into an African American family. His mother was Princess Curtis, and his father was Alexander H. Curtis who was enslaved before becoming a merchant, and served six years in the Alabama Senate during the Reconstruction era. His brother William P. Curtis was also a prominent physician. Curtis served as postmaster in Marion, Alabama (prior to 1921).

In May 1881, Curtis married Alice May Peyton from Richmond, Virginia.

Career For 6 years he taught school in Alabama, and held a professorship at his alma mater Alabama State Normal School in 1879.

Booker T. Washington profiled him in the book, A New Negro for a New Century (1900).