In honor of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Utah Valley University (UVU) will be hosting a week of commemorative activities. One of these activities will be a keynote speech by Anthony Ray Hinton, a former wrongfully convicted death row convict. Hinton will be speaking remotely on Wednesday, January 13, at noon.

Hinton’s experiences are relayed in his New York Times bestselling book, The Sun Does Shine. This book was selected for this year’s freshman reading book at UVU. Now, UVU students will get to hear from the author himself.

“I’m excited for students to have the opportunity to hear from Mr. Hinton directly and ask questions they have about his story and his book,” said Noemy Medina, director of the First-Year Student Experience and Retention department at UVU. “It was clear at our freshman book discussion this fall that there is a lot of student interest in discussing the issues and themes highlighted in Mr. Hinton’s book — many of which are like those Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. devoted his life to.”

Hinton was wrongfully convicted of two murders in 1985 in Birmingham, Alabama. He was then sentenced to death and remained on death row for 28 years until his release in 2015. He published The Sun Does Shine in 2018.

“Mr. Hinton’s story gives us a chance to examine how all the institutions we participate in engage with us. Our interaction with different institutions in our day-to-day may be impacted by the identities we hold,” Medina said. “I hope that students will gain a more critical perspective as they examine their own participation in systems and their communities so that we can work to do better as a society to be an equitable, inclusive, and more just society.”

Hinton’s speech is open to all UVU employees and students as well as the public. To attend and register for the speech and other events, visit uvu.edu/inclusion/events.