About: Charles Burleigh Purvis

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. Purvis was 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. He was the 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.