So many couples give up at the first sign of trouble, but if a love is real, it’s worth fighting for. If Mildred and Richard Loving had given up, thousands of other couples might still be denied the right to marry.
Mildred Jeter and Richard Loving were both born and raised in Central Point, Virginia.
Mildred’s ancestors were Cherokee, Portuguese, and African American. She identified as Native American tracing her ancestry to the Rappahannock tribe.
Richard’s ancestors were European and American. His maternal grandfather fought for the Confederacy in the American Civil War. He identified as White.
Caroline County in Virginia adhered to rigid Jim Crow segregation laws. Central Point, which is located in Caroline County, had been a mixed-race community since the 19th century, but because the county followed Virginia’s “one-drop” rule its residents had to be classified as either White or Colored. There were no distinctions made for Native Americans. The “one-drop “rule which was codified into law in 1924 was also known as the Racial Integrity Act. It was considered a legal principle of racial classification. Any person with even one ancestor of black ancestry must be considered Negro/colored. It was used to prevent interracial marriages, deny mixed-race people rights, and equal opportunities in order to uphold the idea of white supremacy.
Richard’s father worked for one of wealthiest Black men in the county for 25 years. Most of the people he worked with were Black and the Lovings hosted Blacks and Whites in their home. In the small community they lived in, neighbors helped each other regardless of race or social status. Many of Richard’s closest friends were Black including Mildred’s older brothers.
Mildred and Richard met because of his friendship with her brothers. When Mildred was in high school, they began dating. In 1858, when Mildred was 18, she became pregnant, and Richard moved in with the Jeters. They wanted to marry, but could not legally marry in the state of Virginia because, under the Racial Integrity Act, mixed race marriage was illegal. They traveled to Washington D.C. and were married there.
After the Lovings returned home to Virginia, they were arrested. Someone had tipped off the county sheriff about the marriage. The Lovings were charged with “co-habiting as man and wife against the peace and dignity of the Commonwealth.” They pled guilty on January 6, 1959. They were sentenced to one year in prison, to be suspended for 25 years, if they agreed to leave the state.
The Lovings moved to Washington, D.C. They missed living in the country. They missed friends and family, but if they traveled together to Virginia, they would both go to prison simply for falling in love and deciding to marry.
Living in Washington D.C. was much more expensive than living in Central Point. In 1964, the Loving’s youngest son was hit by a car on a busy city street. The medical bills put a considerable strain on their finances. The Lovings wanted to get out of the city and move back to Central Point where they would have the love and support of their families. They petitioned to have the judgment against them vacated.
After their petition was denied in 1964, Mildred wrote to Robert Kennedy, the Attorney General of the United States. Kennedy referred her to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). The ACLU filed a petition on behalf of the Lovings to vacate the judgment and set aside the verdict based on the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
This was the start of a series of lawsuits filed against the state of Virginia. When the matter still wasn’t resolved, the Lovings filed a class-action suit in U.S. District Court. In 1965, the U.S. District Court agreed to allow the Lovings to present their constitutional claims to the Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals.
In 1965, Mildred made a rare public statement while the case was pending. In an interview, she told the Washington Evening Star, "We loved each other and got married. We are not marrying the state. The law should allow a person to marry anyone he wants.”
Virginia Supreme Court Justice Harry L. Carrico (later Chief Justice) wrote the court's opinion which upheld the constitutionality of the anti-miscegenation statutes and affirmed the Loving’s criminal convictions.
The Lovings and the ACLU immediately appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court. The Lovings chose not to attend the court proceedings; however, Richard asked their attorney to deliver this message to the court:
“I love my wife, and it’s just unfair that I can’t live with her in Virginia.”
Loving v. Virginia was decided unanimously in favor of the Lovings on June 12, 1967. The Supreme Court held that the 14th Amendment prohibits states from discriminating on the basis of race. They concluded that any law prohibiting marriage based on race was unconstitutional denying Virginia’s claims that their anti-miscegenation statutes did not violate the 14th Amendment because it applied equally to Blacks and Whites and provided the same punishments for both races.
After the decision, the Lovings moved back to Central Point. Richard and Mildred built a house and raised their family there.
In 1975, a drunk driver hit the Lovings’ car. Richard was killed. He was 41. Mildred survived but lost her right eye.
On June 12, 2007, the 40th anniversary of the Loving v. Virginia decision, Mildred issued this statement:
My generation was bitterly divided over something that should have been so clear and right. The majority believed what the judge said that it was God's plan to keep people apart, and that government should discriminate against people in love. But I have lived long enough now to see big changes. The older generation's fears and prejudices have given way, and today's young people realize that if someone loves someone they have a right to marry.
Surrounded as I am now by wonderful children and grandchildren, not a day goes by that I don't think of Richard and our love, our right to marry, and how much it meant to me to have that freedom to marry the person precious to me, even if others thought he was the "wrong kind of person" for me to marry. I believe all Americans, no matter their race, no matter their sex, no matter their sexual orientation, should have that same freedom to marry. Government has no business imposing some people's religious beliefs over others. Especially if it denies people's civil rights.
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.
Mildred never believed she had done anything extraordinary. According to her, “It wasn’t my doing, it was God’s work.
Mildred died on May 2, 2008, less than a year later, of pneumonia. She is buried beside her husband, Richard.
Image of Mildred and Richard Loving:
By Bettmann/Corbis via New York Times retrieved on September 17, 2008, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=13624396
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