Marriage Actually - An honest look at marriage

RIP - Mildred Loving

by Bald Man on May 10th, 2008

Do you know Mildred? What about her husband Richard? Have you heard of them? I hadn’t until I came across their names last week while reading Marriage: a History. Still, it’s not too late, and you should know who they are

Meet Mildred and Richard.

They grew up outside of Richmond, Virginia in the 40’s and met as children. When Mildred was 18 she became pregnant, so they got married. Only, as you’ll notice, Mildred is black and Richard is white, and in 1958 it was illegal for an interracial couple to marry in Virginia.

They actually went to Washington D.C. to be married, but a few weeks after they returned home, the sheriff got them out of bed in the middle of the night and arrested them on an anonymous tip. They were found guilty of miscegenation, and given the choice to spend a year in jail or leave Virginia for the next 25 years. The trial judge made what in retrospect is a dreadfully ignorant statement, but one which fairly summarized the beliefs of many at the time:

Almighty God created the races white, black, yellow, Malay and red, and he placed them on separate continents. And but for the interference with his arrangement there would be no cause for such marriages. The fact that he separated the races shows that he did not intend for the races to mix.

The Lovings left Virginia, but eventually decided to sue for the right to return home. Their case made it to the Supreme Court who on June 12, 1967, ruled that bans on interracial marriage were unconstitutional. Here is a part of that decision:

Marriage is one of the “basic civil rights of man,” fundamental to our very existence and survival. … To deny this fundamental freedom on so unsupportable a basis as the racial classifications embodied in these statutes, classifications so directly subversive of the principle of equality at the heart of the Fourteenth Amendment, is surely to deprive all the State’s citizens of liberty without due process of law. The Fourteenth Amendment requires that the freedom of choice to marry not be restricted by invidious racial discrimination. Under our Constitution, the freedom to marry, or not marry, a person of another race resides with the individual and cannot be infringed by the State.

Richard died back in 1975, and last week Mildred passed away… in Virginia.

Kerri and I owe a debt of gratitude to the Lovings. Without their courage, we might not have been allowed to marry. Nor Kerri’s parents. Nor so many others. So, I ask you today to set aside a moment of remembrance for the Lovings. May they rest in peace.

Link: LovingDay.org
Link: Wikipedia
Link: Michigan Messenger

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POSTED IN: Marriage News