Hairston attended public school in Greensboro, NC, graduating from James B. Dudley High School in 1963. He then attended North Carolina A&T State University where he received a degree in the Industrial Arts in 1967. He took photographic short courses sponsored by the North Carolina Professional Photographic Association. From January 1971 to June 1988, he was owner and operator of the University Studio and Gallery I. In February 1993, he served as University Photographer in the Office of University Relations. Hairston was the first photography exhibitor at the Martin Luther King Center in Atlanta, GA.