Anthony Ray Hinton Brings Message of Justice and Hope to NMH

Northfield Mount Hermon continued its exploration of this year's learning theme, "Citizenship: Freedom, Power, and Justice" when it welcomed author and prison reform activist Anthony Ray Hinton to campus on April 22.

Hinton, who spent nearly 30 years on death row after being wrongfully convicted for murder in 1985, shared his story of faith, fortitude, and the fight for justice with students during an all-school meeting in Memorial Chapel. His visit to campus was made possible through the Jacqueline Smethurst Speaker Series, established in 1998 in honor of the former head of school, with additional support from the Ed and Ginny Brooks Speaker Series. Smethurst P'87, 91, NMH's head of school from 1988 to 1998 and a former member of the NMH Board of Trustees, attended the event to hear Hinton's powerful story and connect with students and others in the community.   

Hinton began his talk by recollecting the day sheriff's deputies showed up at his mother's house, located in a rural community just north of Birmingham, Alabama, in 1985 and arrested him while he was mowing the lawn. When he proclaimed his innocence, Hinton recalled one of the detectives responding that it didn't matter whether he committed a crime or not.

"[The detective] said, ‘There's five things that're going to convict you. … Number one, you're Black; number two, a white man is going to say you shot him; number three, you're going to have a white prosecutor; number four, you're going to have a white judge; and number five, you're going to have an all-white jury.’ He said, 'Do you know what that spells?' And he repeated the word: 'Conviction, conviction, conviction.'"

Hinton was subsequently found guilty of first-degree murder, despite having a solid alibi and no motive or history of violence. Throughout the trial, he faced consistent racial prejudice from law enforcement, the prosecutor, and even his own court-appointed defense attorney. Only 29 years old at the time of his conviction, Hinton spent the next several decades in solitary confinement on death row at Holman Correctional Facility, fighting to clear his name.

"For 30 years, I lived in a cage 30 feet away from the death chamber," he said. "I watched 54 men walk right past me only to be executed, and I had to smell burnt human flesh for days afterward."

Despite such sordid circumstances, Hinton found strength in his faith and imagination. He started a book club, passed long hours daydreaming about having tea with the Queen of England or winning the World Series, and developed unlikely friendships with his fellow inmates, including an ex-Klan member in the cell next door.

"Something I learned in life is you have to be bold, you have to stand up and be willing to talk about racism, openly and honestly," he told students, "because I promise you one thing: You have more in common with the person that you think you hate than you realize."

Through humor, fortitude, and his faith in God, Hinton maintained his innocence — despite being advised to falsely confess in return for a lesser sentence — and his dignity. After more than a decade on death row, Hinton contacted lawyer Bryan Stevenson of the Equal Justice Initiative, who agreed to represent him. For the next 16 years, the two fought to exonerate Hinton, taking the case all the way to the United States Supreme Court, which unanimously overturned his conviction in 2014. A year later, the State of Alabama officially dropped the charges and released Hinton, now 58 years old, from custody.

Despite that victory, Hinton refuses to consider himself a free man. "They took my freedom the day they arrested me," he said. "I'm just out enjoying life and trying to do and be the best human being that I can, regardless."

That includes traveling the country and world advocating for the abolition of capital punishment and prison reform in America. Hinton called on students to leverage their privilege, talents, and resources toward ensuring that no one else suffers the same egregious miscarriage of justice that he endured.

"Every time a state executes someone in this country, they execute them in your name," he told students. "We live in a country that says it believes in justice for all. I need somebody to stand up and tell me, where is my justice? How is it that we can have a system that keeps a man in a cage for 30 long years, and nobody has had the decency to say, 'Mr. Anthony, we're sorry.'?

"In America, we have over 20 million men and women in prison [and] over 800,000 men and women on parole and probation,” Hinton continued. “Unless some of you take charge, stay involved, and change laws, you could very well find yourself or someone that you love on the other side of the justice system. You hold the key to open up America to be the greatest country that it can be. But I need you to stand up, even when your friends or your parents don't want you to. Always stand up for truth. Always stand up to make someone else's life better."

Ultimately, his story is one of joy, forgiveness, and gratitude, Hinton said: not for the sake of those who mistreated him, but because of the enduring humanity and hope that saw him through.

"I wake up every morning with a smile, trying to see what I can do to help someone," said Hinton. "I want you to know that no matter how life knocks you down, you don't have to stay down, no matter what trouble you find yourself in. Believe someone is out there, willing to give you a chance and help you. If we’re going to make it in this world, we’re going to make it together."

Andrea Orsini Martinic '28 said Hinton's message of joy and gratitude in the face of life's darkest phases helped her gain insight into her own life. "It made me rethink the [challenges] that I've had in a bigger picture."

The opportunity to hear from and converse with speakers like Hinton brings an important sense of connection and context to daily life on campus, said Nadine Neutra '28. "I think it's easy to get caught up in the bubble of NMH; the opportunity to hear from someone with a very unique life story brings a lot of perspective."

For her, it was Hinton's empathy that struck a chord. "It sounds cliché, but just the fact that we're all human," Neutra said. "The differences are a lot less than we imagine."

—Max Hunt

Photos by Matthew Cavanaugh. See more images from Anthony Ray Hinton's visit on Flickr.