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Richard and Mildred Loving is one of the couples most hurt because they were accused of racism.
Love is very powerful and makes men and women do actions they never thought they would do. Especially in the case of this couple standing up to a state’s judicial system.
Here is what the couple did when they got into trouble because of their love. The couple met at the age of 17 and 11 but nothing happened in those years,
They grew up miles apart in different communities when white people did not mix with black people.
Richard and Mildred started dating and after a few years, Mildred got pregnant and decided to get married.
To get married they were forced to go to Washington because marriages were allowed there. After the marriage, the young people decided to return to Virginia, although these things were not accepted there.
It was not long before the wedding when County Sheriff and his two members appeared at their door one morning. They had received information that the couple was married and this was not allowed in their country.
I took him to prison. Richard spent the day in jail after being released from a thousand-dollar bail arranged by his sister. But Mildred remained behind bars for three days and was denied bail before getting released to her father.
The couple was found guilty of acting against the law. At their trial, they heard the judge say that if God wanted to mix the black and white race he would have placed them on the same continent.
They were then forced to leave Virginia because the judge was generous and went to Washington where their three children Donald, Peggy, and Sidney were raised.
Although Washington allowed marriages, they still had problems and were not accepted into society. They had no one to turn to but to write Robert F. Kennedy, the then-Attorney General of the United States. He assisted them by making lawyers available.
The lawyers did their best but were rejected by the United States Supreme Court. Their battles are known as Loving v. Virginia, and fortunately for them, the Supreme Court unanimously voted in their favor.
This led to denouncing all the anti-miscegenation laws some states had active. The decision was made on June 12, 1967, almost ten years after their wedding, and till today, mixed couples still celebrate the win, having dubbed the day “Loving Day.”
