Loving Day – Pic of The Week

Growing up in Virginia, it can be easy to take for granted how much history is steeped within the nearly 240 years of the Commonwealth’s existence. While the state is well-known for being the birthplace of four of the first five presidents of the United States and housing many of their residences, it is also (in)famous for sparking the monumental Supreme Court case of Loving v. Virginia.

Back in 1958, Richard and Mildred Loving were arrested in their Caroline County house, shortly after they were married in Washington, D.C. They were arrested for violating Virginia’s laws against interracial marriage, which made it a felony for interracial couples to leave Virginia, marry, and resume residence in the state. The Lovings pleaded guilty in 1959 at the Caroline County courthouse. They were sentenced to one year in prison, but the original sentence was suspended on the condition that they would leave the state for the next 25 years, unable to return together during that period, which resulted in the Lovings moving to Washington, D.C.

In 1963, they filed a motion asking for their convictions to be vacated and their sentences set aside. Ultimately, Judge Bazile (who sentenced their original case) refused, and the Lovings’ attorneys, Bernard Cohen and Philip Hirschkop, took the case to the Virginia Supreme Court, which followed suit in upholding the original ruling. After another appeal was denied, in April 1967, the case went to the United States Supreme Court.

On June 12, 1967, the Supreme Court unanimously ruled in favor of the Lovings. The decision in Loving v. Virginia struck down state laws banning interracial marriage in the United States, stating that so-called “anti-miscegenation” statutes were unconstitutional under the 14th Amendment. The ruling overturned the 1958 convictions of Richard and Mildred Loving and the anti-miscegenation laws in 16 states, including Virginia. The result of Loving v. Virginia proved successful in helping the Civil Rights movement and would be referenced regarding the legalization of same-sex marriage in 2015.

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