From NKAA, Notable Kentucky African Americans Database (main entry)
Purce, Charles L.
(born: 1856)Charles L. Purce was president of Selma University (1886-1893) and State University (Simmons University) in Louisville, KY. He was considered one of the best educators in the country, credited with the rapid growth of State University. Purce was born in Charleston, SC, the son of Stephen Sr. and Fannie Purce. He was an 1883 graduate of Richmond Theological Seminary [later merged with Wayland Seminary to become Virginia Union University]. For more see Charles L. Purce in Evidences of Progress Among Colored People, by G. F. Richings, online at the Documenting the American South website; and A Story of a Rising Race: the Negro in Revelation, in History, and in Citizenship, by J. J. Pipkin.
