There are n’t a plenty of couples who can take their relationship change the row of story . sure enough , there are the big alliances : Antony andCleopatra ’s love story is one for the books , and Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn ’s relationship sure enough made a splash . But the marriage of unassuming Virginia residents Richard and Mildred Loving in 1958 is historic , due to one small component — he was white , and she was black .
In an installment of Stuff You Missed in History Class , host Tracy V. Wilson and Holly Frey give us atwo - partlesson on Loving v. Virginia , one of the most well - known U.S. Supreme Court case . The character struck down anti - miscegenation jurisprudence around the country , making it legal for white masses to marry outside their race . That was no small exploit , count that when the Lovings were wed in 1958,24 state had laws on the books ban interracial marriage .
Richard and Mildred Loving ’s relationship was n’t destined to be in the spotlight . The couple grew up in Central Point , Virginia , and conjoin when Mildred was 18 and Richard was 24 . But Mildred was of Native American and African - American descent , and her miscellaneous - race descent was the only affair that mattered when she and Richard had to leave Virginia to legally get hitched with .
Virginia ’s racial wholeness lawsmandated that no soul with " one drop " of nonwhite stemma ( barring asmall amount of American Indian lineage ) could marry a white-hot person , and that no mixed couple could travel to a different state to conjoin and retrovert to Virginia to endure as husband and married woman .
But that ’s incisively what the Lovings did in 1958 , when they left Virginia for Washington , D.C. to hook up with and returned home to conciliate . About a calendar month after , the sheriff ’s department entered their bedroom at 2 a.m. and halt them for break the law .
The couple pleaded guilty in trial . Their prison term to one year in clink was overturned so long as they agreed to entrust Virginia and not to render together for 25 years . That sturdy arrangement prompted Mildred to seek legal help , and the American Civil Liberties Union finally used the Lovings ' case to challenge Virginia to change its laws on mixed matrimony .
Listen to part one of the podcast below to find out how these discriminatory lawswere created and evolved , and lead topart twoto learn the legal ins and outs of the sweeping ruling that lead to the 1967overturn of every anti - miscegenation law in the country .
