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 African-American physician to attend a sitting president of the United States 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 African-American 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.