William Augustus Hinton papers

William Augustus Hinton (1883-1959), S.B., 1905, Harvard College, Cambridge, Massachusetts; M.D., 1912, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, was a bacteriologist and laboratory scientist who directed the Wassermann Laboratory (the Massachusetts State Laboratory) and the Boston Dispensary. In 1949, Hinton became a full professor at Harvard Medical School, making him the first Black full professor at Harvard University. He is known for developing a diagnostic blood test for syphilis, "the Hinton test," which was adopted widely, including by the U.S. Public Health Service.

William Augustus "Gus" Hinton was born in Chicago, Illinois in 1883 to Maria Clark and Augustus Hinton, both of whom were formerly enslaved. In the 1900 U.S. Census, Hinton was identified as Black. Hinton was raised in Kansas City, Kansas, and he attended the University of Kansas, Lawrence, from 1900 to 1902, before enrolling at Harvard College. He earned his S.D degree in 1905. After graduation he taught at Meharry Medical College and Walden University, both in Nashville, Tennessee, as well as at the Agricultural and Mechanical College in Langston, Oklahoma. He then returned to Harvard, where he earned his medical degree in three years, graduating in 1912. Rejected from opportunities to pursue a surgical career, he volunteered part-time in the Massachusetts General Hospital's Department of Pathology in Boston, Massachusetts, where he conducted autopsies in cases where syphilis was the suspected cause of death. Beginning in 1915, he became the Assistant Director of the Division of Biological Laboratories and Chief of the Wassermann Laboratory at the Massachusetts Department of Public Health. (The Wassermann Laboratory had previously been affiliated with Harvard Medical School). He served in that position for 38 years. During his time in the lab, Hinton developed a sensitive and easy-to-conduct flucculation blood test for diagnosing syphilis. This test was widely adopted, and became known as the Hinton test. In 1936, he added the role of Chief of the laboratories at Boston Floating Hospital to his responsibilities. With a colleague, he also developed a similar test that used spinal fluid; that became known as the Davies-Hinton test. Concurrectly with his laboratory career, Hinton taught at Harvard Medical School. In 1918, he became Instructor in Preventive Medicine and Hygiene; beginning in 1921, he also taught bacteriology and immunology. These were added to his title in 1946, when he came Instructor in Bacteriology and Immunology. In 1949, he was promoted to Clinical Professor, becoming the first Black full professor at Harvard Medical School and at Harvard University. He retired a year later in 1950. In addition to his teaching at Harvard, Hinton taught at Simmons College, Boston, Massachusetts (now Simmons University); the Harvard School of Public Health, Boston (now the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health); Tufts Medical School, Boston; and Tufts School of Dental Medicine, Boston. He established a school to train women to become laboratory technicians. After his retirement, he worked at the Massachusetts Hospital School for Crippled Children in Canton, Massachusetts (now called the Pappas Rehabilitation Hospital for Children).

In addition to his laboratory career and his teaching, Hinton authored a 1936 textbook, Syphilis and Its Treatment, as well as many journal articles. He was also a special consultant to the U.S. Public Health Service. In 1921, he came the first Black scientist in the American Society of Microbiology. His other professional memberships included the American Medical Association, the Society of American Bacteriologists, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. His awards and honors were many, beginning with the Wigglesworth scholarship while he was a student at Harvard Medical School. He accepted this scholarship after rejecting the Hayden scholarship, an award for Black students. He also declined the NAACP's 1938 Spingarn Medal, because he did not want his career achievements to be connected to his race. Hinton's will established the Dwight D. Eisenhower scholarship fund at Harvard University in honor of his parents and in support of the cause of equal opportunity. Posthumous recognitions of Hinton's work included: the naming of the Massachusetts State Laboratory Institute after him; the 2019 unveiling of his portrait in the Waterhouse Room at Harvard Medical School; and the 2020 naming of the Hinton Society at Harvard Medical School (replacing what had previously been called the Holmes Society).

Hinton met Ada Hawes while working in Oklahoma. They married in 1909 and had two children, Anne and Jane. Hinton died in 1959. He had had his leg amputated above the knee following a car accident in 1941. He also began experiencing vision loss in 1956. He died in Canton, Massachusetts, where he resided, from complications from diabetes.