Silas Hunt was born on March 1, 1922, in Ashdown, Little River County, Arkansas to Jessie Gulley Moton and R. D. Hunt. In 1936, Hunt and his family moved to Texarkana, Miller County, Arkansas where he attended Booker T. Washington High School. In 1941, Hunt graduated as class salutatorian and he enrolled at the Agricultural, Mechanical, and Normal College (AM&N) at Pine Bluff, Jefferson County, Arkansas. Hunt excelled academically and earned scholarships to pay for the most of his undergraduate education. While in college, Hunt was drafted into the United States Army following America's entry into World War II. He was stationed in Europe and after being severely wounded at the Battle of the Bulge, Hunt returned to AM&N and graduate in 1947 with a Bachelor's of Arts in English.

On February 2, 1948, Hunt, accompanied by former AM&N school mate Wiley Branton, Pine Bluff attorney Harold Flowers, and AM&N newspaper photographer Geleve Grice arrived on the University of Arkansas campus in Fayetteville, Washington County, Arkansas to meet with Dr. Robert A. Leflar, dean of the law school, and apply for admission to the law school. After reviewing Hunt's academic record, Leflar admitted Hunt to the law school. This signified the first time a black student had been officially admitted to a white Southern university since Reconstruction and the first ever admitted for graduate or professional studies. That spring, Hunt attended segregated classes in the basement of the law school. White students were not restricted from taking these classes, and in fact, between three and five students attended each of these classes regularly.

Hunt's graduate studies were halted by illness. He was hospitalized at the Veteran's Hospital in Springfield, Missouri, where he ultimately died on April 22, 1949, from tuberculosis. He is buried in the Stateline Cemetery in Texarkana.