Born in Raleigh, North Carolina to parents who were free people of color, he moved with them as a youth to Indiana.

He became active in postwar politics, serving as a trustee on the Wabash and Erie Canal, and in 1880 being elected to the State House.

[1] There Hinton began to work part-time as a barber, while attending a subscription school organized by the local African-American community for four years.

Hiram Revels, also from a free family, who later became a politician and would be elected as the first African-American United States Senator, was among his classmates.

[6][7] At the outbreak of the American Civil War in 1861, Hinton sought to enlist in the Union Army in Indiana but was first turned away because of his race.

[6] His rise in political status was propelled by his strong ties to a community network through the Methodist Episcopal Church and the Masons.

[6] From 1874 to 1878,[3] Hinton served as a trustee of the Wabash and Erie Canal, becoming Indiana's first African-American holder of statewide office.