At 2 AM on July 11, 1958, newly married couple Richard and Mildred Loving were abruptly awakened in their bedroom by a Virginia sheriff. The sheriff questioned Richard, a white man, asking, "What are you doing in bed with this woman?" Mildred, a woman of both Black and Indigenous American heritage, responded, "I'm his wife." The sheriff retorted, "Not here, you're not." During that era, Virginia still had laws against interracial marriage, and the Lovings were taken into custody for their unlawful cohabitation. For nearly nine years, the couple was forced to live away from their hometown, but they eventually boldly decided to challenge the state's discriminatory laws in the Supreme Court. In 1967, the groundbreaking Loving v. Virginia ruling effectively decriminalized interracial marriage throughout the entire United States.
Loving v. Virginia: A Landmark Struggle for Love and Equality historydefined.net/loving-v-virgi…
@fasc1nate This 4yo horse understands her owner’s emotions and tries to comfort and reassure her
The Lovings were criminally charged with interracial marriage under a Virginia statute banning such marriages, and were forced to leave the state to avoid being jailed. They moved to Washington, D.C., but wanted to return to their home town. With the help of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), they filed suit to overturn the law. In 1967, the Supreme Court ruled in their favor, striking down the Virginia statute and all state anti-miscegenation laws as unconstitutional, for violating due process and equal protection of the law under the Fourteenth Amendment. On June 29, 1975, a drunk driver struck the Lovings' car in Caroline County, Virginia. Richard was killed in the crash, at the age of 41. Mildred lost her right eye.
@fasc1nate The SCOTUS WANTS TO END THIS!
On the 40th anniversary of the decision, Mildred stated: "I am still not a political person, but I am proud that Richard's and my name is on a court case that can help reinforce the love, the commitment, the fairness, and the family that so many people, black or white, young or old, gay or straight, seek in life. I support the freedom to marry for all. That's what Loving, and loving, are all about." Beginning in 2013, the case was cited as precedent in U.S. federal court decisions holding restrictions on same-sex marriage unconstitutional, including in the U.S. Supreme Court decision Obergefell v. Hodges
@fasc1nate Wedding rings from WWII concentration camps. Each pair of rings represents a family, a marriage, a couple, 1945
The Lovings were crim*nally charged with interracial marriage under a Virginia statute banning such marriages, and were forced to leave the state to avoid being j*iled. They moved to Washington, D.C., but wanted to return to their home town. With the help of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), they filed suit to overturn the law. In 1967, the Supreme Court ruled in their favor, striking down the Virginia statute and all state anti-miscegenation laws as unconstitutional, for violating due process and equal protection of the law under the Fourteenth Amendment. On June 29, 1975, a drunk driver struck the Lovings' car in Caroline County, Virginia. Richard was killed in the crash, at the age of 41. Mildred lost her right eye.
@fasc1nate Richard & Mildred Loving were husband & wife. In 1958 they were criminally charged under a VA statute banning interracial marriages.
@fasc1nate It’s wild that this wasn’t that long before I was born. People still thought it was illegal up until I was a kid in the 80s