The Sun Does Shine: How I Found Life and Freedom on Death Row

Written by Ray Hinton’s lawyer Bryan Stevenson, the Foreword offers a thumbnail of Hinton’s family background, his upbringing as a black man in the rural south, and the circumstances leading to his eventual conviction. Stevenson introduces the readers to Hinton’s mother and Hinton’s best friend Lester Bailey, both of whom play a large role in Hinton’s life before and during his years on death row. Lastly, Stevenson testifies to the strength of Hinton’s character. Throughout his struggles, Hinton maintains a sense of humor, was able to engage with fellow inmates and correctional staff, and even gave counsel to those in need. Stevenson concludes that Hinton’s story, while horrifying, must be told so that readers may “learn about human dignity, and about human worth and value” (xi).

After philosophizing about destiny and how the past shapes the future, Ray Hinton narrates a visit at the Jefferson County Jail in 1986. His mother is there, along with Hinton’s best friend, Lester Bailey. Hinton, interweaving the details of this visit with the particulars of his case, laments the horrors and hardships these two have faced while believing in him. He claims he would do, in trying to be freed, what his mother had always told him to do: “I would still pray for a miracle and not try to criticize it if the miracle didn’t look like what I expected” (5).