Charles Burleigh Purvis
| Charles B. Purvis | |
|---|---|
Purvis in 1887
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| Born |
April 14, 1842 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |
| Died | December 14, 1929 (aged 87) Los Angeles, California |
| Occupation | physician |
| Political party | Republican |
Charles Burleigh Purvis (April 14, 1842 – December 14, 1929) was a physician in Washington, D.C. He was among the founders of the medical school at Howard University. He was the first black physician to attend a sitting president when he attended President James Garfield after he was shot by an assassin in 1881, he was the first black physician to head a hospital under civilian authority when he was made surgeon-in-charge of the Freedmen's Hospital that same year. He was first black person to serve on the D. C. Board of Medical Examiners and the second black instructor at an American medical school. He was also a leading activist in civil rights and universal suffrage movements.
Purvis was born in Philadelphia on April 14, 1842. Purvis' parents were abolitionists Robert Purvis and Harriet Forten Purvis. When he was two years old, the family moved to Byberry in 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 in 1860 and stayed for two years but did not finish. In 1862 he entered the Medical College at Western Reserve in Cleveland.
In 1864 he served in the Union Army in the US Civil War as a military nurse at Camp Barker which became a model for Freedmen's hospital, and he graduated from Western Reserve in March, 1865. 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, DC. He served in this role until 1869.
On June 9, 1869, Purvis and Alexander Thomas Augusta were proposed for membership of the Medical Society of DC, 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.
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