40 years ago today it was illegal for blacks to marry whites in at least 17 states

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.suntimes.com/news/politics/422338,CST-NWS-loving11.article

Love reigned Supreme in 1967
MILFORD, VA. | Court tossed out bans on black-white marriages

June 11, 2007
BY DIONNE WALKER

MILFORD, Va. -- Reporters no longer beat a path to the house just over the Caroline County border -- and that's fine with its owner, a soft-spoken 67-year-old who never wanted the fame her marriage brought her.

Born Mildred Jeter, she's known mostly by the name she took when she -- a black woman living in segregated Virginia -- dared break the rules by marrying a white man named Richard Loving.

The union landed the Lovings in jail, and then before the U.S. Supreme Court, and finally in the history books; 40 years ago Tuesday, the court ruled in favor of the couple, overturning laws prohibiting interracial unions and changing the face of America. snip

It was in this setting that Mildred and Richard met. Their relationship took an abrupt turn when she became pregnant at 18.
They drove some 80 miles to Washington, D.C., in 1958, married, and returned to Central Point.

''I think he thought {if} we were married, they couldn't bother us,'' Mildred said.

Within a month, they were arrested. They spent years living in exile in Washington after being convicted of ''cohabiting as man and wife, against the peace and dignity of the Commonwealth.'' Laws banning mixed marriages existed in at least 17 states.

[wildhorses]

1. are you saying (by omission) that it was legal for a white man to

marry a black woman?

[xultar]

2. not marry but rape yes.

[NNN0LHI]

3. No the subject line wasn't big enough to get it all in n/t

[militaryspouse]

5. ..

If anyone hasn't seen the movie MR. and Mrs.Loving, I recommend it. Timmothy Hutton, and Rashan(sorry, messed up the name) played the role as mr. and ms. loving. Very good movie!

[Ecumenist]

20. The actress that potrayed Mildred Loving was Leila Rochon...

This is something that is close to my heart as I'm a caramel woman married to a tall Texan Bohemian Czech.

[wildhorses]

7. actually your subject line would be shorter --

just drop the words male and female....

[Nia Zuri]

4. He was white, she was black

It was illegal for whites and blacks to marry, period.

[wildhorses]

6. thank you !!!

i hate it when sexism and racism are NOT separated...

[EFerrari]

19. Can you say more so I can understand what you mean?

:hi:

[High Plains]

8. But but but IT WAS THE LAW!

What part of illegal don't you understand?

[mondo joe]

21. The law was found to be unconstitutional. That too, is the law.

[Quantess]

9. What if.....

they were both mixed race, but one spouse appeared white, at first glance? And the other appeared black?

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

15. The one drop rule

Remember the old musical "Show Boat"? The whole premise of it was a white man who fell in love with a black woman. Just before the sheriff came to arrest them, the hero had his lady cut her finger and he drank a drop of blood from it. When the sheriff came, he said, "I'm not white. I have black blood in me!" and the sheriff left them alone. That would be what would have happened in the case you cited. In VA, one DROP of "Negro blood" made you black.

[NNN0LHI]

18. May I say that you have one heck of a good memory?

Because you do.

Don

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

23. No, I read The Straight Dope

and Cecil Adams discussed this. But thanks for the compliment! :)

[malaise]

24. Indeed

A superb memory.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

10. Rule of law! Rule of law!

[BootinUp]

11. I wonder how hard it would be

to get a law like that changed in today's political environment....

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

12. You'd probably be accused of supporting sex offenders.

[Gato Moteado]

13. if they had the supreme court we have today.....

...the ban on mixed marriages would not have been overturned. clarence thomas would have even supported the mixed marriage ban and it would have been a 5-4 decision. the lovings would still be in jail.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

14. I remember Life Magazine

having a feature story about a "mixed marriage"- I still remember their wonderment that some of the kids were dark and others very light. The whole feel of the piece was like a photo/article about aliens from Mars or something. There was a feeling of strangeness and an undercurrent of danger.

[EFerrari]

17. We're really not very far from amoeba, are we?

[EFerrari]

16. San Francisco TURNED on Willie Mays when he married a white woman.

I was only a kid but I remember hearing my family talking about it at the table. Not sure if it was at the tail end of the 50s or very early 60s.

[NMMNG]

22. I hope it doesn't take another 40 years for same sex couples to be able to marry

But then it just might if the bigots have their way.

[LanternWaste]

25. While social progress may move relatively slow in the U.S., it does move.

While social progress may move relatively slow in the U.S., it does move. From abject slavery, to Jim Crow, to integration, to where we are now, and to where we will (hopefully) be tomorrow. There has been real progress (which isn't to say there's no more left to be made).

I believe this applies to most social movements-- the ERA, the safety of the common worker, and welfare laws to name but a few. We move, we just move slowly.