William Augustus Hinton facts for kids

William Augustus Hinton (born December 15, 1883 – died August 8, 1959) was an American scientist who studied tiny living things (a bacteriologist) and diseases (a pathologist). He was also a teacher. He made history by becoming the first Black professor at Harvard University.

Hinton was a leader in public health. He created a special test for a serious disease. This test was very accurate, so the United States Public Health Service used it widely. In 1975, a state laboratory was officially named the "Dr. William A. Hinton Laboratory" in his honor. In 2019, his picture was placed in a special room at Harvard Medical School, where only pictures of past deans (all white) had been before.

Early Life and Education

William Augustus Hinton was born in Chicago. His parents, Augustus Hinton and Maria Clark, had both been slaves. William grew up in Kansas.

After finishing high school, he first studied at the University of Kansas. Then he moved to Harvard University, where he earned a science degree in 1905. After graduating, he taught in Tennessee and Oklahoma. During his summer breaks, he kept studying tiny living things and how bodies work at the University of Chicago.

In 1909, he joined Harvard Medical School. He was offered a scholarship meant for African-American students, but he chose not to take it. Instead, he competed for and won two different scholarships, the Wigglesworth and Hayden scholarships, for two years in a row. These scholarships were open to all Harvard students. He finished medical school with high honors in just three years, graduating in 1912.

Starting His Career

Because of his race, Hinton was not allowed to have a medical internship right after graduation. Instead, he worked as a "voluntary assistant" at the Pathology Laboratory at Massachusetts General Hospital from 1913 to 1915.

He earned the respect of his co-workers. They even asked him to write a chapter for an important medical textbook called Preventive Medicine and Hygiene. In 1915, he received two important jobs: director of the Laboratory Department of the Boston Dispensary and chief of the Wasserman Laboratory for the Massachusetts Department of Public Health. He stayed at the second job until he retired in 1953. Under his leadership, the number of approved laboratories grew a lot.

After his career took off, Hinton returned to Harvard Medical School in 1918. He started as an instructor teaching about preventive medicine and hygiene. In 1921, he began teaching about bacteria and how the body fights off sickness (immunology). He taught these subjects at Harvard for more than 30 years.

Also in 1921, Hinton became the first Black scientist to join the American Society for Microbiology. However, he never went to their meetings. He was worried that if people knew he was Black, they might not take his scientific work seriously anymore.

For most of his time at Harvard, Hinton was an assistant or a lecturer. He was only made a full professor just before he retired. Harvard named him Clinical Professor of Bacteriology and Immunology. This made him the first African American to become a full professor at the university.

During his career, Hinton also taught at Simmons College, the Harvard School of Public Health, and the Tufts Medical and Dental Schools. He also started a special school for laboratory technicians that was only for women. This was the first school of its kind. Its graduates quickly found jobs all over the country, helping to open up this field for women. His daughter, Jane Hinton, later helped create a special type of agar (a jelly-like substance used to grow bacteria) called Mueller–Hinton agar.

Worldwide Recognition

Hinton's test for a serious disease was simple, quick, and easy to understand.

In 1938, Hinton turned down an award called the Spingarn Medal from the NAACP. He wanted his scientific work to be judged on its own value. He was concerned that if it was widely known he was Black, his work might not be as well received by other scientists. He later said, "Race should never get mixed up in the struggle for human welfare."

In 1948, Hinton was recognized for his work with blood tests (as a serologist) and public health. He was made a lifetime member of the American Social Science Association. The lab for blood tests at the Massachusetts Department of Public Health's Laboratory Institute Building was named after him.

In 1960, a famous scientist named John Enders, who won a Nobel Prize, wrote a special tribute about Hinton for Harvard University. He highlighted Hinton's many important contributions.

In 2015, the University of South Carolina School of Medicine Greenville named one of its new student groups after Hinton. This "Hinton college" often performed better than other groups at the university.

The American Society for Microbiology now gives out the William A. Hinton Award. This award honors people who have helped train students from groups that are not often seen in microbiology.

Later Career and Personal Life

Even though Hinton retired from Harvard in 1950, he kept teaching there for several more years. He also worked as a doctor at the Mass Hospital School for Crippled Children in Canton, Massachusetts. Until 1953, he was the main doctor for the Department of Clinical Laboratories of the Boston Dispensary. He also worked as a special advisor for the U.S. Public Health Service.

In 1948, Hinton was named a lifetime member of the American Social Hygiene Association. They called him a "distinguished scientist, leading serologist, and public health bacteriologist."

William Hinton's parents were both freed after the Civil War. His father, Augustus, became a farmer and railroad worker. His mother, Maria, also became a farmer. William later left his savings, about $75,000, to start a special scholarship fund for Harvard graduate students. This fund was a way to remember his parents and the good values they taught him. He named the scholarship fund after President Dwight D. Eisenhower. Hinton believed Eisenhower had done a lot to create equal job opportunities during his time as president. Eisenhower later wrote that this scholarship was one of the most touching honors he had ever received.

Hinton married Ada Hawes, a teacher, in 1909. They had two daughters, Anne Hinton Jones and Dr. Jane Hinton, who became a veterinarian. In 1940, Hinton lost a leg after a car accident. He passed away in 1959 from health problems related to diabetes.

Legacy

On September 13, 2019, a painting of Hinton was revealed in Harvard Medical School's Waterhouse Room. Before this, the room only had paintings of white former deans. The painting was requested by S. Allen Counter, who started the Harvard Foundation for Intercultural and Race Relations. The artist, Stephen E. Coit, showed Hinton in a lab from the 1920s. In the background, there are other researchers, including a woman and a young Black man. The painting includes the female researcher to show that Hinton helped break down barriers for women. He taught at Simmons College and started a lab technician school just for women. In September 2020, Harvard Medical School renamed one of its student societies, the Holmes Society, in honor of Dr. Hinton. This was to recognize his important work as a scientist.