I was in college when I received an urgent phone call from my sister. My cousin, who’d been incarcerated on a gun charge, needed help following a tragedy in our family. His 4-year-old son had died in a freak accident and prison officials were reluctant to allow him to attend the funeral.

At the time, I was the editor of Minnesota State-Mankato’s paper, “The Reporter,” and my family members figured I might have resources to help my cousin’s cause. As I searched for the email addresses and phone numbers of folks who might assist us, I failed to connect with anyone of influence. I felt powerless.

I can’t imagine the emotions my cousin had to navigate in that moment.

I’m sure Anthony Ray Hinton can relate to his predicament. Hinton was just 29 when he was wrongfully convicted on a capital murder charge following a string of fatal armed robberies in Birmingham, Alabama. He was sentenced to death.

Hinton’s journey was shared in the 2019 movie “Just Mercy” about civil rights lawyer Bryan Stevenson (portrayed by Michael B. Jordan). The movie is based on Bryan Stevenson’s book of the same name. Hinton is free now, after The United States Supreme Court overturned his conviction in 2014. He is wounded. Yet, he is also hopeful.

The latter is the most compelling element of Hinton’s “The Sun Does Shine: How I Found Life and Freedom on Death Row,” our book selection for the sixth season of the Mary Ann Key Book Club, named after my great-great-great grandmother who was enslaved in Alabama and Georgia in the 1840s and 1850s. Our partnership with Hennepin County Library, Friends of Hennepin County Library and the Star Tribune continues to encourage dialogue about marginalized communities.

America’s incarcerated population is vulnerable and often unheard. And there are others like Hinton, including Marvin Haynes, who was recently exonerated after a 2005 conviction in the murder of a Minneapolis flower shop employee.

Our goal, this season, is to facilitate a conversation about mass incarceration in Minnesota and beyond, but to also highlight Hinton’s remarkable perspective on life and the light he found amid the darkness.

We’re looking forward to our author event with Hinton on April 25 at 6:30 p.m. at Minneapolis Central Library, and then our panel discussion with formerly incarcerated Minnesotans on May 16, also at 6:30 p.m.

We look forward to your participation in these events. And thank you for your support.