Loving v. Virginia

Arica L. Coleman

The Loving v. Virginia (1967) U.S. Supreme Court decision, which rendered antimiscegenation laws unconstitutional, was the final element in a series of civil rights legislative and judicial actions that dismantled legalized segregation in the United States. The plaintiffs—Mildred Delores Jeter, of mixed African American and (Rappahannock) Indian ancestry, and her White fiancé, Richard Perry Loving, both of Central Point, Virginia—were married in Washington, D.C., on June 2, 1958. The Lovings returned to Central Point and resided with Mildred's parents while Richard worked to build a new house for his pregnant bride. On July 11, 1958, as the Lovings lay asleep in bed, the sheriff, accompanied by two additional law enforcement officers, burst into the couple's bedroom and arrested them for the felony of miscegenation. Two separate warrants along with an indictment were issued for Richard Loving and Mildred Jeter, respectively. The Lovings were in violation of Virginia's 1924 Act to ...

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