By Natalia Gonzalez Blanco Serrano ’24
Clarence Hinton ’38 was among the earliest students of color to play football for Northwestern. So, imagine his surprise when he reached out to the athletic department and was told there was no record of his having ever attended.
Not only did Hinton attend Northwestern, he excelled in academics, athletics, and activism on campus. He was recruited to play during his freshman year, making his debut on the field in 1935 as a sophomore. He received a merit scholarship for academic excellence that facilitated his attendance to the University. He was even involved in student activism, advocating for commuting students who were not allowed to live on campus for racial reasons.
A page from Hinton’s scrapbook.
Renewed proof of Hinton’s presence on campus was recently cemented at University Archives when his children — Audrey Hinton ’69, Diane Hinton Perry, and David Hinton — donated one of their father’s scrapbooks. The collection begins with grade school notes and newspaper clippings documenting his excellence as both a child athlete and musician. Photos and articles show him in the 1930s participating in orchestra, track and field, football, and basketball competitions. One article from 1932 describes him as one of four “real backfield aces” drawing attention from Peoria.
In addition to his excellence on the field at Northwestern, Clarence was a well-rounded student. He was a competitive academic force on the pre-med track, and even pledged to fraternity Kappa Alpha Psi. This is all the more impressive when taking into account the fact that he was commuting from Chicago for his first two years at Northwestern before later moving to Evanston.
Clarence, who died in 2008, was not allowed to live on campus, much like all of his contemporaneous peers of color. He was involved in advocating for their integration into dorm life. Though he did not mention the organization by name, he was likely integrated with the community and leaders who went on to head the Quibbler’s Club according to Charla Wilson, the Archivist for the Black Experience at Northwestern. Their work laid the foundation for the 1968 Bursar’s Office Takeover, which Clarence’s daughter Audrey was directly involved in.
“I think this is a really interesting story of a daughter attending Northwestern in the ’60s, who was involved in the Takeover, and was able to, in some ways, extend the work that her father was doing in the ’30s,” Wilson said. “He’s advocating for open housing for all students and then she’s involved in the Takeover, which had a demand to make housing equitable.”
The Hinton family with archivist Charla Wilson.
Clarence’s children and grandchildren had a brief ceremony handing over the scrapbook to University Archives this summer. They debated taking the memento to Howard University, where Clarence received his medical degree, but ultimately decided to entrust it to Northwestern. In addition to the scrapbook, the Hintons also provided oral history interviews at the time of the donation. These stories will also be digitized and added to the Libraries’ audiovisual repository.
“I’m very grateful that the family decided to deposit the scrapbook with us and trust us with its care,” said Wilson. “And I hope that digitizing it will help people know his story.”
Natalia Gonzalez Blanco Serrano is a Medill senior.