Randolph-Macon College will host Anthony Ray Hinton, author of the memoir The Sun Does Shine, How I Found Life and Freedom on Death Row as part of the Watkins Lecture Series on Thursday, March 7 at 7 p.m. inside Blackwell Auditorium at the Center for the Performing Arts.

Reserve your free ticket at https://event.rmc.edu/Hinton.

Hinton spent 30 years on Alabama’s death row, wrongly convicted of murders he did not commit based on forensics linked to a dusty revolver found at his mother’s house. His onerous legal journey to be freed took decades, even after new evidence was presented. Through the work of Bryan Stevenson’s Equal Justice Initiative, the U.S. Supreme Court eventually reversed the lower courts and a new trial was granted, where forensics experts were unable to match crime-scene bullets to Hinton’s mother’s gun. Even then, it was years before the charges were dropped and Hinton was released in April of 2015. Hinton’s story is portrayed, in part, in the motion picture Just Mercy.

Today, Hinton works as a Community Educator for the Equal Justice Initiative, traveling both across the country and internationally to speak about his experience. His story examines painful truths about racial injustice through a prism of faith, resilience, and even humor. He has become a powerful voice against the death penalty, and an advocate for criminal justice reform.

His memoir was a common read for Randolph-Macon’s Honors Program in fall 2023.

RMC’s Watkins Lecture Series

The Watkins Lecture Series was established in 1999 by Marion Watkins Herget and Dr. George D. Watkins ’44 and is named in honor of their parents, who owned and operated the Herald-Progress newspaper. The series brings together the Town of Ashland and RMC communities—two entities important to the Watkins family.

The Watkins’ gift has provided lecture attendees the opportunity to hear from a host of notable speakers, including Bill Bryson, Soledad O’Brien, Garrison Keillor, Ari Shapiro, Nina Totenberg, James Carville, Julian Bond, Bob Woodward, David Gergen, and Rubin “Hurricane” Carter.

The event is free to the public, but tickets are required. (Reserve your ticket here.) Copies of The Sun Does Shine, How I Found Life and Freedom on Death Row will be available for purchase, and Hinton will be signing copies after the event.