Mildred and Richard Loving are best known for having gone against the anti-miscegenation laws in Virginia. They married in 1958 in Washington DC, however when they moved back to their home town of Central Point, Virginia, their home was raided by the police.
After appealing to Attorney General Robert Kennedy and the American Civil Liberties Union, the case eventually reached the U.S. Supreme Court, and on June 12th, 1967 the unanimous decision was reached that the Commonwealth of Virginia's argument that a law forbidding both white and black persons from marrying persons of another race violated both the Due Process Clause and the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.
Despite the Supreme Court's decision, anti-miscegenation laws remained on the books in several states, although the decision had made them unenforceable. In 2000, Alabama became the last state to adapt its laws to the Supreme Court's decision, by removing a provision prohibiting mixed-race marriage from its state constitution through a ballot initiative. 60% of voters voted for the removal of the anti-miscegenation rule, and 40% against.
After Loving v. Virginia, the number of interracial marriages continued to increase across the United States and in the South.
Loving Day has been celebrated annually on June 12th since 2004 by people of mixed race and people in mixed relationships.
The original artwork was commissioned by my friend Heidi Durrow for the 2014 Mixed Experience Heritage Month.