Alumni Book Club: Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson and/or The Sun Does Shine by Anthony Ray Hinton

The Center for Social Concerns is hosting an online book club for alumni of our programs and courses. Join us to talk about books that engage issues of justice.

Register now to discuss Bryan Stevenson’s Just Mercy and Anthony Ray Hinton’s The Sun Does Shine. You can opt to read both/either.

Tuesday, October 8, 7:00–8:15 pm ET

Hosted by Dr. Connie Snyder Mick and Haley Beaupre ’10

Just Mercy is a powerful true story about the potential for mercy to redeem us, and a clarion call to fix our broken system of justice — from one of the most brilliant and influential lawyers of our time.

Bryan Stevenson was a young lawyer when he founded the Equal Justice Initiative, a legal practice dedicated to defending those most desperate and in need: the poor, the wrongly condemned, and women and children trapped in the farthest reaches of our criminal justice system. One of his first cases was that of Walter McMillian, a young man who was sentenced to die for a notorious murder he insisted he didn’t commit. The case drew Stevenson into a tangle of conspiracy, political machination, and legal brinksmanship — and transformed his understanding of mercy and justice forever.

With a foreword by Stevenson, The Sun Does Shine is an extraordinary testament to the power of hope sustained through the darkest times. Anthony Ray Hinton’s memoir tells his dramatic 31-year journey and shows how you can take away a man’s freedom, but you can’t take away his imagination, humor, or joy.

In 1985, Hinton was arrested and charged with two counts of capital murder in Alabama. Stunned, confused, and only 29 years old, Hinton knew that it was a case of mistaken identity and believed that the truth would prove his innocence and ultimately set him free.

But with no money and a different system of justice for a poor black man in the South, Hinton was sentenced to death by electrocution. He spent his first three years on Death Row at Holman State Prison in agonizing silence—full of despair and anger toward all those who had sent an innocent man to his death. But as Hinton realized and accepted his fate, he resolved not only to survive, but find a way to live on Death Row. For the next 27 years he was a beacon — transforming not only his own spirit, but those of his fellow inmates, 54 of whom were executed mere feet from his cell. With Stevenson’s help, Hinton won his release in 2015.

The first 15 people to register will be sent a free book!

Please share this with friends who are alumni of the Center. Space is limited. Registered participants will receive a Zoom link to participate.