JUNE 12

Richard Loving and Mildred Jeter were from Central Point, Virginia, and first met when he was 17 and she was 11 years old. Richard was friends with Mildred's older siblings, but as they grew older, became friends and eventually fell in love. In 1958, when Mildred turned 18, the couple decided that they wanted to get married. There was just one problem: it was illegal for people of different races to marry in Virginia. Richard was white and Mildred was African American and Native American. Their love was considered to be illegal in their home state, and nearly a third of the states across America.

Sounds ridiculous, right? Richard and Mildred thought it was! So, they traveled to nearby Washington, DC, to get married - here there were no laws banning their love or their marriage. On June 2, 1958, Richard and Mildred were married, and returned to Virginia as the Loving family. A few weeks later, the police arrested Mr. and Mrs. Loving for being married. They were taken to jail for violating a Virginia law that prohibited interracial marriage. Even though they were legally married, they were still breaking the law in Virginia.

In 1959, a Judge sentenced the Lovings to each serve a year in jail, or to move out of state and never return to Virginia. The Lovings chose the second option and moved to Washington, DC. They felt that being exiled from their state was wrong, so in 1963, Mildred wrote to Attorney General Bobby Kennedy, and asked for advice. He connected the Lovings with the American Civil Liberties Union, who took their case.

The case Loving v. Virginia, went all the way to the Supreme Court! On June 12, 1967, in a 9-0 decision, the Justices struck down the ban on interracial marriages in Virginia and every other state that held a similar law. The Lovings moved back to their hometown in Virginia, and raised three children there. Sadly, Richard was killed in a car accident in 1975, at the age of 41. Mildred was seriously injured in that same accident, but survived. She died in 2008, at the age of 68.

The Lovings' story was profiled in Life Magazine in 1966, bringing National attention to the issue. Their love story and fight for equality was turned into a movie three times! Mr. and Mrs. Loving (1996), The Loving Story (2012), and Loving (2016).

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