The Loving Story | HBO On June 2, 1958, a white man named Richard Loving and his part-black, part-Cherokee fiancée Mildred Jeter travelled from Caroline County, VA to Washington, D.C. to be married.
Back home two weeks later, the newlyweds were arrested, tried and convicted of the felony crime of "miscegenation." ‘The Loving Story: Photographs by Grey Villet’ On assignment for LIFE magazine in 1965, Photographer Grey Villet traveled to Virginia to photograph Mildred and Richard Loving.
Long Way Home: The Loving Story is a story of love and the struggle for dignity set against a backdrop of historic anti-miscegenation sentiments in the U.S. Living in exile in D.C. with their children, the Lovings missed their families and dearly wanted to return to their rural home. Meet the Lovings: an interracial couple who had to go all the way to the Supreme Court to be together.
After the Virginia Supreme Court responded with similarly antiquated and racist sentiments, Cohen and Hirschkop seized the opportunity to take the case to the U.S. Supreme Court.Although the odds of getting a case heard by the Court were slim, Cohen and Hirschkop learned that Loving v. Virginia would be heard on April 10, 1967. At the time, interracial marriage was illegal in 21 states, including Virginia. This exhibition at the International Center of Photography (ICP) presents a series of intimate images of the two, some of which were featured in The Loving Story. To avoid a one-year jail sentence, the Lovings agreed to leave the state; they could return to Virginia, but only separately. Back home two weeks later, the newlyweds were arrested, tried and convicted of the felony crime of "miscegenation."
The plaintiff's lawyers, by contrast, included legal arguments interspersed with references to sociology and anthropology.
To avoid a one-year jail sentence, the Lovings agreed to leave the state; they could return to Virginia, but only separately. With an eye towards taking their case to the highest possible court, Cohen filed a motion to vacate the judgment on the Lovings' original conviction and set aside the sentence.
At the time, interracial marriage was illegal in 21 states, including Virginia.
At the advice of her cousin, Mildred wrote a letter to Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, who wrote her back suggesting she get in touch with the American Civil Liberties Union.Two young ACLU lawyers, Bernard S. Cohen and Philip J. Hirschkop, took on the Lovings' case, fully aware of the challenges posed at a time when many Americans were vehement about segregation and maintaining the "purity of the races."
Peabody and Emmy Winner On June 2, 1958, a white man named Richard Loving and his part-black, part-Cherokee fiancée Mildred Jeter travelled from Caroline County, VA to Washington, D.C. to be married. TV14 • Documentaries • Movie • 2012 The moving story of an interracial couple in 1960s Virginia who fought a long battle against the state's prohibition of mixed marriage. Alabama was the last holdout, finally repealing its anti-miscegenation law in 2000.© 2020 Home Box Office, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Today, Hirschkop recalls that Mildred was quiet and articulate, while joking that his initial impression of Richard was that he looked like a crew-cut "redneck." At the time, interracial marriage was illegal in 21 states, including Virginia. On June 2, 1958, a white man named Richard Loving and his part-black, part-Cherokee fiancée Mildred Jeter travelled from Caroline County, VA to Washington, D.C. to be married. In interviews filmed at the time, the two lawyers dissect the absurdities of the laws and the difficulties of trying a case over five years old. And though the Lovings chose not to attend, Cohen may have made the most compelling case by relaying to Chief Justice Warren and his fellow judges Richard's simple message: "Tell the court that I love my wife, and it is unfair that I can't live with her in Virginia. Married in 1958, Mildred and Richard Loving were arrested in the middle of … At the time, interracial marriage was illegal in 21 states, including Virginia. Aware that their case had the potential to set a landmark precedent, the two green lawyers (Hirschkop was only two years out of law school and had never argued before the Supreme Court) prepped in New York before heading to the famous Supreme Court building in D.C. Local Judge Leon Bazile denied the motion, stating that God had separated people by continents and did not "intend for the races to mix." At the time, interracial marriage was illegal in 21 states, including Virginia.
On June 2, 1958, a white man named Richard Loving and his part-black, part-Cherokee fiancée Mildred Jeter travelled from Caroline County, VA to Washington, D.C. to be married.
This precedent-setting decision resulted in 16 states being ordered to overturn their bans on interracial marriage.