57: Loving Day

Today is Loving Day in the US.

(Mildred and Richard Loving in 1967.)

It remembers the 1967 US Supreme Court Decision that Anti-Miscegenation Laws (laws that criminalize relationships and marriage of Interracial Couples) are unconstitutional.

The case was brought on by Mildred Delores Loving (née Jeter) and Richard Perry Loving.

Mildred Loving was born on July 22, 1939 in Central Point, Virginia.  She was half African-American and half Native-American.

Richard Perry was born on October 29, 1933 in Central Point, Virginia. He was White.

Central Point, Virginia (like the rest of the American South) had Jim Crow Laws that made it legal to openly discriminate against Non-Whites.

Virginia's “One-Drop Rule” codified in Law in 1924 as the Racial Integrity Act, required all Residents to be classified as "White" or "Colored", refusing to use People's longstanding identification as Indian among several Tribes in the state so Mildred Jeter was considered Colored by the State of Virginia.

Virginia also had Anti-Miscegenation Laws that made it illegal for a White Person and a Non-White Person to have a Sexual Relationship and to Marry each other.

In 1958, when Mildred was 18 she became Pregnant and they decided to marry in June 1958 and traveled to Washington, D.C., to do so (due to Virginia’s Anti-Miscegenation Laws.)

The Lovings continued to live in Central Point, Virginia and were arrested by the County Sheriff for "cohabiting as Man and Wife, against the peace and dignity of the Commonwealth."

They pled Guilty and were convicted by the Caroline County Circuit Court on January 6, 1959. They were sentenced to 1 year in Prison, suspended for 25 years on the condition that they leave Virginia. They moved to Washington, D.C.

They were frustrated by their inability to travel together to visit their families in Virginia, and by social isolation and financial difficulties in Washington, D.C.

In 1964, after their youngest Son was hit by a car in the busy streets, they decided they needed to move back to their hometown, and they filed suit to vacate the judgment against them so they would be allowed to return home to Virginia.

In 1964, Mildred Loving wrote in protest to Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy. RFK referred her to the American Civil Liberties Union.

The ACLU filed a motion on the Lovings' behalf to vacate the Judgment and set aside the sentence, on the grounds that the statutes violated the Fourteenth Amendment. This began a series of lawsuits and the case ultimately reached the United States Supreme Court.

The Case, Loving v. Virginia, was decided unanimously in the Lovings' favor on June 12, 1967.

The Court overturned their Convictions, dismissing Virginia's argument that the law was not discriminatory because it applied equally to and provided identical penalties for both White and Black persons.

The Supreme Court ruled that the Anti-Miscegenation Statute violated both the Due Process and Equal Protection Clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment.

The Lovings returned to Virginia after the Supreme Court decision where they lived for the rest oof their lives.

On June 29, 1975, a Drunk Driver struck the Lovings' car in Caroline County, Virginia. Richard was killed in the crash, at age 41. Mildred lost her right eye.

Mildred died of Pneumonia on May 2, 2008 at the age of 68.

 

Anti-Miscegenation Laws In the United States:

 

Repealed before 1887:

Illinois: From 1829 until 1874

Iowa: From 1839 until 1851

Kansas: From 1855 until 1859

Maine: From 1821 until 1883

Massachusetts: From 1705 until 1843

Michigan: From 1838 until 1883

New Mexico: From 1857 until 1866

Ohio: From 1861 until 1887

Pennsylvania: From 1725 until 1780

Rhode Island: From 1798 until 1881

Washington: From 1855 until 1868

 

Repealed before 1967:

Arizona: From 1865 until 1962

California: From 1850 until 1948

Colorado: From 1864 until 1957

Idaho: From 1864 until 1959

Indiana: From 1818 until 1965

Maryland: From 1692 until 1967

Montana: From 1909 until 1953

Nebraska: From 1855 until 1963

Nevada: From 1861 until 1959

North Dakota: From 1909 until 1955

Oregon: From 1862 until 1951

South Dakota; From 1909 until 1957

Utah: From 1852 until 1963

Wyoming: From 1913 until 1965

 

Repealed Because of the 1967 Loving Case:

Alabama: From 1822 until 1967 (2000 by Law)

Arkansas: From 1838 until 1967 (1973 by Law)

Delaware: From 1807 until 1967 (1986 by Law)

Florida: From 1832 until 1967 (1968 by Law)

Georgia: From 1750 until 1967 (1972 by Law)

Kentucky: From 1792 until 1967 (1974 by Law)

Louisiana: From 1724 until 1967 (1975 by Law)

Mississippi: From 1822 until 1967 (1987 by Law)

Missouri: From 1835 until 1967 (1969 by Law)

North Carolina: From 1715 until 1967 (1973 by Law)

Oklahoma: From 1897 until 1967 (1969 by Law)

South Carolina: From 1717 until 1967 (1972 by Law)

Tennessee: From 1741 until 1967 (1978 by Law)

Texas: From 1837 until 1967 (1969 by Law)

Virginia: From 1691 until 1967 (1968 by Law)

West Virginia; From 1863 until 1967 (1969 by Law)

 

The Following States Never had Miscegenation Laws:

Alaska, Hawaii, Minnesota, Wisconsin, New Jersey, New York, Vermont, Connecticut and New Hampshire