Betti Hinton said her husband had an honest and gentle spirit with a love for Black communities.
Civil Rights leader Milton Hinton died Aug. 22 from natural causes after a short sickness, according to his wife.
Hinton was an advocate, his wife said. Whenever he saw a need for justice and equality, he became involved. The 99-year-old was the former president of the NAACP Cincinnati Branch, a Great Living Cincinnati honoree, a veteran, and a retired professor, department head, and vice provost at the University of Cincinnati.
In his youth, Johnathan Holifield served under Hinton as the first vice president of the NAACP Cincinnati Branch. He was Hinton's friend, Omega Psi Phi fraternity brother and mentee.
“He really believed in reciprocity, responsibility,
balance, and pursuing your best efforts in doing and contributing what you can,” he said.
“In the fraternity we call them 360-degree brothers,” Holifield said about Hinton. “He was a man built the old-school way.”
New Jersey to Cincinnati
Born in Glassboro, New Jersey in 1927, Hinton lived through racial segregation. He earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Glassboro State College and a doctorate in education from Columbia University.
He taught in Philadelphia and Glassboro public schools and was the first Black football coach at Glassboro High. A multi-hyphenate, Hinton was also the president of the Woodbury New Jersey Choral Society.
Later, Hinton joined Virginia State University as the special education department head. He was the president of the Glassboro Branch of the NAACP for five years, and the president of the Gloucester County Branch for eight years, according to the Cincinnati Regional Chamber.
Hinton met his wife while teaching at the university, she said. Betti's sister was a student in Hinton’s class and wasn’t getting good grades, so Betti went to the school to talk with her sister and the professor.
The Hintons married in 1970 and moved to North Avondale. Hinton's wife worked in social services as a therapist and founded a local agency called Families Forward. Hinton became a professor and chairman of the early childhood and special education department at UC before becoming vice provost of minority affairs.
Lanthan Camblin Jr. is a professor emeritus at UC and has known Hinton for more than 45 years. Hinton was the faculty member who hired Camblin. Over the years, Hinton has been Camblin's department head, mentor, colleague, role model, racquetball partner, and friend.
Camblin said Hinton was an inspiration to all who came in contact with him, and that he and his wife have been a force in the community.
"Betti was there of course every step of the way," Camblin said.
Decades with the NAACP
After retiring in 1992, Hinton created the Committee of 51, a group of citizens from different walks of life who met to discuss issues in minority and integrated communities, according to a 1995 article from former Enquirer reporter Mark Curnutte.
These organizing efforts got the attention of the local NAACP branch, whose members asked Hinton to run for branch president. Suddenly Hinton was elected and working a new, unpaid job: breathing life into the branch.
In 1994, Hinton had barely settled into his role when he led protests against The Enquirer's depiction of Black men in a series on the Ohio Parole System. Subsequent meetings with the Enquirer's editorial board led to the newspaper committing to coverage that more fully represented the Black community.
Hinton covered several bases in his presidency:
- NAACP Cincinnati Branch membership jumped from 700 to about 3,500.
- As a direct result of Hinton’s leadership, Holifield said, the city of Cincinnati passed a 19-point corrective action plan from the NAACP to address discrimination against city workers.
- The Cincinnati branch created an investment match program to help locals save enough money for an average down payment on a home. The program was the largest in Ohio, Holifield said.
- Hinton ensured there was involvement of Black construction companies, business owners, and small business owners in the urban revival of the riverfront, Holifield said.
- Hinton also worked hard on police and community relations through the Citizens Police Review Panel.
- Established an NAACP chapter at the University of Cincinnati, grew the organization's youth council and the amount of young people in NAACP leadership roles.
A fisherman, a host, a family man
When Hinton visited his wife's family in Newport News, Virginia, he read so much that his father-in-law asked if he could do anything other than read. Hinton's father-in-law built him a chair, and a table connected to a tree for his hobby, and he taught Hinton how to fish.
Hinton's wife, Holifield, and all of the people interviewed in the Cincinnati Chamber's Great Living Cincinnatian video raved about Hinton's fishing skills. Holifield joked that the family's annual fish fry dinners were a way to get rid of all the fish Hinton caught. Hinton's wife fried the fish and prepared the side dishes.
These dinners were jam-packed, Holifield said. “It was a must-see kind of event,” he said.
A couple hundred people including NAACP members, neighbors, University of Cincinnati faculty, and plus-ones packed the North Avondale home.
For Holifield's graduation, Hinton and his wife offered to host a party and invited Holifield's family from Detroit. Years later, Holifield came across a letter his mother had written for Hinton. “It brought tears to my eyes, just the memory and gratitude for him looking out for her son,” he said.
Hinton loved his wife, daughter, and son, Holifield said. "He was a strong family man, anchored in the church. He was a heck of a role model in that respect too."
Honoring Milton Hinton's life and legacy
Hinton is preceded in death by his father, his mother, his brothers, and members of his wife’s family, who she said he had adopted as his own. He is survived by his wife and her living family members, son Milton Hinton Jr., daughter and educator of the year Milbeth Hinton Allen, his nephew, and his two granddaughters.
Hinton’s life and accomplishments will be celebrated at Bethel Baptist Church on 2712 Alms Place on Saturday, Sept. 12. The day will start at 9:30 a.m. with a ceremony organized by the Omega Sci Phi fraternity. Visitation will be at 10 a.m. Service starts at 11:30 a.m.
Hinton will be buried at Spring Grove Cemetery with full military honors at 2 p.m., followed by a fish fry at Bethel Baptist Church.
"Those who knew Dr. Hinton, personally or professionally, aspire not merely to copy his achievements, but each day to build upon them," Camblin said. "That is his true legacy.”
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Loved ones mourn Milton Hinton, man of 'reciprocity, responsibility'
