INTERRACIAL MARRIAGE - U.S. Supreme Court Case trumps states' rights in Loving v. Virginia in 1967

Grey Villet, a photographer for Life magazine, traveled to Virginia in 1965 to document the story of Richard and Mildred Loving. His photos of the Lovings going about their everyday life appear in the upcoming HBO documentary about their U.S. Supreme Court case.
Grey Villet / Courtesy HBO

Mildred and Richard Loving - A place in history

Loving_v._Virginia

HBO's The Loving Story is the true story of two people in love, but denied the freedom to be married. One was White, one was Black and Native American Indian. Their U.S. Supreme Court case unanimously overturned 16 states' laws against interracial marriage in 1967. Alabama was the last state to resist in the year 2000. If you are subscribed to HBO, you can watch the documentary online at hbo go or watch for the next time it is aired on HBO. I saw it today. It is so well worth seeing.

My personal story is told on a previous post January 12, 2008:
Legal to have skin color and hair color The Loving's case in 1967 was following my first experience of having a boyfriend in 1961, who wasn't my race and how my parents handled it so poorly. I feel a personal connection and understanding to the story in the documentary.

The Loving Story at facebook

twitter The Loving Story

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Going Home - a song used in the documentary, here sung beautifully by Jane Froman

Mildred and Richard Loving of Virginia

This is HBO at its best. And this documentary about miscegenation laws in the USA, exiling the two people in love out of their home state of Virginia for 9 years is one that enters your human heart and resides thereafter. Eight years after their U.S Supreme Court Case was ruled in favor of their being married, a drunk driver ran into them and Richard Loving died as a result.

Mildred Loving lived the remaider of her life surrounded by family and friends in the house that Richard built for her.

Mildred Loving
1939 - 2008.

I was born in 1949. This story lives in me.

Click this post's title to New York Times article about the document The Loving Story

CNN's story 2012/02/16/ Study - US interracial marriage, acceptance growing


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Song at the end of the documentary The Loving Story

Slow Train
Written by Steve Cropper and William Bell

It's a slow, slow train, but it's moving on

Well I've got my ticket, so don't, pass me by
'Cause if I don't get on board, I just might, break down and cry
'Cause I've just got one life, to live, on this earth
Oh, get me there, won't you please, conductor sir

'Cause it's a slow, slow train, but it's moving on

Well everybody gets a ticket, you, you and me
But it's up to you to catch a ride, now that's how it's got to be
And if you want to ride that train to that peaceful, promised land
Oh, you've got to give your heart to Jesus, and put your ticket in his hand

'Cause it's a slow, slow train, but it's moving on
Oh it's a slow, slow train, but it's moving on

I DON'T READ MANY BOOKS, BUT THIS ONE IS A MUST READ

I own lots of books. I check out books from the library. But to be truthful, I don't read many books. Rarely do I get through an entire book, even when I start it. I read biographies, non-fiction, seldom does a fiction book get more than a promise that some day I'll sit with it. And yet, I prefer the book over the kindle and similar inventions. And when I do read a book, I like to mark it up for favorite lines and passages.

Yesterday, I sat down and finished a book that I had started a few weeks ago, liked and wanted to finish. But that has happened before, the wanting part and the book never gets read. But, I had a day that I decided to sit down and actually use the hours to read. No television on as background to my life, no music, no computer to gobble up my attention and time. First, I went to bed early the night before, which is also a rare thing for me to do and I took the book to bed and read a little before closing my eyes. In the morning, as the pen went dry that I was journaling with I decided to get my day started and then sit down with Michele Norris' book, The Grace of Silence. That is the book I finished yesterday. Of course, knowing that it was due at the library tomorrow was a bit of a motivation. And my son, inspired me, as well. He loves to read books and spoke of it on Saturday.

This book was an inspiration to me because I want to write about chapters in my life. And it was also relevant because the years that she wrote of her father's life was during the time I was about to be born and the time my father was also the age to go into the service for World War II as her dad was.

I highly recommend this book and hope that high schools and colleges will put it on their reading lists. It should be included certainly on history course book lists.


Click on the images to enlarge


The chapter The War at Home is worth the price of the book.




There is an excerpt at Michele Norris' website.

You can buy the book at Amazon

Or you can check it out at your library. It is a "must read" if you want to take the advice from someone who doesn't take the time to read a book very often.

The portion below from page 81 in the chapter Service is relevant to the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy today by Senator Mc Cain and the like. The color added is mine.

Over the course of my father's enlistment, the navy adopted new attitudes toward Negroes and their abilities, deciding that the marginalization of men with able bodies and agile minds only served to undermine the war effort. In February 1945, the navy published a new pamphlet for all naval officers, called the Guide to Command of Negro Naval Personnel, it spelled out the reversal of p0licy: "In modern total warfare any avoidable waste of manpower can only be viewed as material aid to the enemy. Restriction, because of racial theories, of the contribution of any individual to the war effort is a serious waste of human resources." 6

Personally, war is a waste of human resources to me. But Michele Norris book is about racism in the USA and she covers it in ways that I never learned about in my history courses.

These pictures are not from The Grace of Silence. The link is below for more pictures of African Americans who fought in World War II

US Army

1. "On parade, the 41st Engineers at Ft. Bragg, NC in color guard ceremony." N.D. 208-NP-4HHH-2. (african_americans_wwii_001.jpg)

2. "An MP on motorcycle stands ready to answer all calls around his area. Columbus, Georgia." April 13, 1942. Pfc. Victor Tampone. 111-SC-134951.

Pictures of african-americans World War II

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Also, I saw the HBO documentary Wartorn-1861-2010 recently. It is about post-traumatic stress and the veterans and their families who live with the effects of it after serving in the military.

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The Buzz

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Film Clip 1

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Film Clip 2

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synopsis