William Augustus Hinton

William Augustus Hinton (December 15, 1883 – August 8, 1959) was an American bacteriologist, pathologist and educator. He was the first Black professor in the history of Harvard University. A pioneer in the field of public health, Hinton developed a test for syphilis which, because of its accuracy, was used by the United States Public Health Service. In 1975, the Massachusetts legislature made what had become known as the "Hinton Laboratory" in the scientific community official, passing a bill to rename the state laboratory the "Dr. William A. Hinton Laboratory." In 2019, Hinton's portrait was placed in Harvard Medical School's Waterhouse Room, a room previously dominated by the portraits of former Harvard Medical School Deans, all of whom were white. Early life and education William Augustus Hinton was born in Chicago to Augustus Hinton and Maria Clark, both former slaves. Hinton grew up in Kansas. After high school, he studied at the University of Kansas before transferring to Harvard University, where he earned a B.S. degree in 1905. Following his graduation, he taught in Tennessee and Oklahoma. During the summers he continued his studies in bacteriology and physiology at the University of Chicago. In 1909, he enrolled in Harvard Medical School and was offered a scholarship reserved for African-American students, which he declined. Instead, he competed for and won the prestigious Wigglesworth and Hayden scholarships two years in a row, a scholarship open to all Harvard students. He graduated with honors in 1912 after only three years. Early career Although he was denied a medical internship or a residency in surgery due to his race, Hinton worked as a "voluntary assistant" in the Pathology Laboratory at Massachusetts General Hospital from 1913 to 1915. It was in this position that he became an expert in syphilis, publishing his first paper along with Roger I. Lee. Gaining the respect of his colleagues, he was invited to write a chapter in a leading textbook, Preventive Medicine and Hygiene. In 1915 he was awarded the dual appointments of director of the Laboratory Department of the Boston Dispensary and chief of the Wasserman Laboratory of the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, staying at the latter position until his retirement in 1953.