The Curious Autodidact

Okay, now you’ve been given ample time to make plans to celebrate the legalization of interracial marriage on  June 12.

Plan a celebration in your neighborhood, of America’s diverse citizenry, and the U.S. Supreme Court case settled Jun 12, 1967 Loving vs.Virginia that struck down 16 state laws that disallowed “the freedom to marry solely because of racial classifications violates the central meaning of the equal protection clause…”

According to the lovingday.org site ” Mildred Jeter and Richard Loving grew up in Caroline County, Virginia. They fell in love and decided to get married. Unfortunately, getting married was not as simple in 1958 as it was today. Mildred was black and Richard was white. There were laws that forbade people of different races to marry each other. This was true in many states, including Mildred and Richard’s home state of Virginia. However, interracial marriage was legal in Washington, DC at that time. Therefore, they decided to drive to DC, get married, and return to Virginia to begin their life together. This proved to be a short term solution. The law in Virginia not only forbade interracial marriage ceremonies, but it also forbade interracial couples from getting married elsewhere and returning to Virginia. One night, while they were asleep, the newly-married Lovings were awakened by the police in their bedroom. The Lovings were taken to jail for the crime of being married.”

According to the Pew Research Center 8% of all existing marriages in the US are interracial. You have a week to plan your celebration and you will find plenty of ideas on the LovingDay.org site

Here’s a posting“Mildred Had a Dream” that appeared on this website in 2008.

(this is a recycled posting, worth another look for those who may have missed it)

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