Pushing Boundaries:Loving V. Virginia

Kieran VerretLeonard8-4?

The People

Mildred & Richard Loving

Mildred Loving

▪ Born Mildred Delores Jeter on July 22, 1939 in Central Point, VA, a town known for its laid back attitude on race relations.

▪ Her father was part Cherokee and her mother was a Rappahannock Indian. She referred to herself as “Native American”, rather than “Black”.

Richard Loving

▪ Born Richard Perry Loving on October 29,1933, in Central Point, VA.

▪ Was a bricklayer

The Relationship

1950-1957

1950

▪ They met when Mildred was 11 and Richard was 17.

▪ They did not attend the same schools because of segregation.

▪ He went to the all whites school, and she went to the all black school.

1957

▪ They got married in June of 1957, in Washington , D.C. because of Virginia state law that said:

▪ “If any white person intermarry with a colored person, or any colored person intermarry with a white person, he shall be guilty of a felony and shall be punished by confinement in the penitentiary for not less than one nor more than five years.“

▪ But they did not know the law that said:

▪ “If any white person and colored person shall go out of this State, for the purpose of being married, and with the intention of returning, and be married out of it, and afterwards return to and reside in it, cohabiting as man and wife, they shall be punished, and the marriage shall be governed by the same law as if it had been solemnized in this State. The fact of their cohabitation here as man and wife shall be evidence of their marriage."

The Arrest and Beginning Legal Battle

1958-1959

1958

▪ July 11th,1958:

▪ Mildred and Richard have arrived home.

▪ Town Police barge in and ask Richard “who is this woman”

▪ Mildred responds “I’m His wife”

▪ The couple are arrested.

▪ October,1958:

▪ The Circuit Court of Caroline County’s grand jury issued an indictment charging the Lovings with breaking Virginia’s interracial marriage ban.

1959

▪ January 6th,1959:

▪ The Lovings plead guilty to the charge, and are sentenced to year in jail.

▪ The trial judge, Leon M. Bazile, suspended the charge to banishment from Virginia for a period of 25 years, in which they are not to return to visit together, saying:

▪ “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 marriage. The fact that he separated the races shows that he did not intend for the races to mix.”

Life After and Further Legal Battles

1959-1966

1959-1963

▪ The couple moved to Washington, D.C., where they lived for 4 years.

1963

▪ November 6th, 1963:The couple filed a motion in the state court to vacate their judgment on the case and to set aside the sentence on the grounds that the statutes which had been violated were counteracting the 14th amendment, which basically states:

▪ A definition of a citizen of this country.

▪ That all states will provide equal protection to everyone within their jurisdiction.

▪ Due process under the law and equally provides all constitutional rights to all citizens of this country, regardless of race, sex, religious beliefs and creed.

▪ October 28,1964:The 1963 motion not resolved, the Lovings put in place a class-action to the US District Court for the Eastern region of Virginia, requesting that a 3-judge court come together to declare the anti-interracial relationship laws unconstitutional.

1964

▪ The 1963 motion not resolved, the Lovings put in place a class-action to the US District Court for the Eastern region of Virginia, requesting that a 3-judge court come together to declare the anti-interracial relationship laws unconstitutional.

1965

▪ January 22,1965:

▪ The State Judge of Virginia denied to motion the get rid of the sentences.

▪ The Lovings send an appeal to the Supreme Court of Appeals of Virginia.

▪ February 11th, 1965:

▪ The District Court allows the case to be sent to the Supreme Court of Appeals, which finds the anti-interracial relationship laws to be constitutional.

▪ The Lovings appeal the decision, and it is sent to the US Supreme Court to be reviewed.

1966

▪ December 12,1966:

▪ The US Supreme Court accepts the Loving case.

Supreme Court Battles

1967

April 10th,1967-The Lovings’ lawyers, Bernard Cohen and Phillip Hirschkop begin to argue before the Supreme Court

Cohen

HirschkopR. Loving

M. Loving

The Arguements

▪ One of the most convincing arguments, made by Cohen is this:

▪ "The Lovings have the right to go to sleep at night knowing that if should they not wake in the morning, their children would have the right to inherit from them. They have the right to be secure in knowing that, if they go to sleep and do not wake in the morning, that one of them, a survivor of them, has the right to Social Security benefits. All of these are denied to them, and they will not be denied to them if the whole anti-miscegenistic scheme of Virginia... [is] found unconstitutional."

June 12th,1967

▪ The US Supreme Court comes out with a unanimous vote: Virginia’s anti-interracial relationship laws are deemed unconstitutional and must be reversed.

The Aftermath

1967-2008

1967

The Lovings, with their 3 children, who had moved back to Virginia during the middle of the case, move back to Caroline County.

1975

Richard is killed in a car crash, leaving Mildred a widow.

May 2nd,2008

Mildred dies of Pneumonia. After Richard’s death, she never remarried and continued to live in the house that he built.

Movies

Mr. & Mrs. Loving(1996) The Loving Story(2012)

Songs

Drew Brody’s Ballad of Mildred Loving(Loving in Virginia

Nanci Griffith’s The Loving Kind

How the case affects today

2000s

Same-sex marriage

▪ Loving v. Virginia is often used in the conext of same sex marriage in the US.

▪ Before her death in 2007, Mildred loving issued this statement:

▪ “I believe all Americans, no matter their race, no matter their sex, no matter their sexual orientation, should have that same freedom to marry... 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.”

▪ To this day, Loving v. Virginia is used to show equality for marriage.

Sources

▪ http://www.soulforce.org/images/mildred_loving.jpg

▪ http://www.biography.com/people/mildred-loving-5884

▪ http://blogs.howstuffworks.com/2013/04/16/missed-in-history-loving-v-virginia-part-1/

▪ http://image1.findagrave.com/photos/2008/138/26906872_121111368458.jpg

▪ http://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/historics/USSC_CR_0388_0001_ZO.html

▪ http://img.timeinc.net/time/photoessays/2010/top10_court_cases/loving_virginia.jpg

▪ http://web3.encyclopediavirginia.org/resourcespace/filestore/1/1/6/1_5a1c0a6d958cfd7/1161scr_668b96d31f99d4e.jpg?v=2012-05-31+10%3A14%3A16

▪ http://www.boxturtlebulletin.com/btb/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/MildredLoving.jpeg

▪ www.youtube.com

▪ http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-TuFh4vqYjks/T10EFJLpYXI/AAAAAAAAAyg/DmdLxWVrebk/s1600/The-Loving-Story-Poster-1.jpg

▪ http://sonarent.com/_img/312/ka_MrAndMrsLoving.jpg?width=160&height=207