Mildred and Richard Loving were sentenced to a year in prison in Virginia for marrying each other. Ultimately Virginia suspended their sentence IF the couple left the state and never returned at the same time together. Absurd! The State claimed that the Loving’s marriage violated Virginia’s anti-miscegenation statute, the Racial Integrity Act of 1924, which prohibited marriage between people classified as “white” and people classified as “colored.” After much struggle the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously decided that this insanity was unconstitutional and, in effect, destroyed similar laws in a total of 16 states.
Chief Justice Earl Warren’s opinion for the court held that:
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.
Stuff You Missed in History Class hosts Tracy V. Wilson and Holly Frey have done an excellent two-part series on Loving vs. Virginia. It was the final note of the podcast that struck me the most. In it, they shared Mildred Loving’s own words, one of the few public statement’s she made late in life, concerning the trial and its impact on the landscape of American politics, culture and liberty. She said:
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.
If you’d like to read her statement in its entirety, please click here for Freedom to Marry’s PDF documentation of her words.
Mildred Loving passed away on May 2, 2008. Her legacy, and the steps she and her husband took on behalf of an entire generation (and generations to come) will always be remembered, particularly now as the U.S. Supreme Court faces a similar issue with the DOMA and Prop challenges… issues which are crystal clear in favor of equality. Our country has a long history of repeating the same questions over and over. If we simply listened to the wisdom in Mildred Loving’s words, this would all be much easier.
Tommy Karr 