Mildred Loving, Matriach of Interracial Marriage, Dies

I was just made aware of Mildred Loving's passing while reading another blog. Somehow I missed the media coverage or perhaps the media provided little coverage of the untimely passing of Mrs. Loving.

Mildred Jeter Loving, 68, an unlikely heroine for social change who set the wheels in motion for the landmark Loving v. Virginia case that challenged and eventually overturned the ban on interracial marriage, died of pneumonia May 2, 2008 at her home in Milford, VA.

For those of you who are not aware of the significant role Mildred Jeter Loving played in American history, let me remind you who Mrs. Loving was.

Mildred Loving (June 22, 1939 - May 2, 2008), with her husband Richard Perry Loving (October 29, 1933 - June 29, 1975) filed and won a landmark U.S court appeal in defense of their interracial marriage that became the legal standard used to eradicate all laws against such marriages in the United States.

Mildred Jeter and Richard Loving first met when she was 11 and he was 17. He was a family friend and over the years they started courting.[1] They lived just north of Richmond in the Commonwealth of Virginia, where interracial marriage was banned by a 1924 statute. When Mildred was 18 she became pregnant, and the couple decided to marry, traveling out of Virginia to do so. Mildred later stated that she did not know it was illegal when they got married in 1958, but she believed her husband did.[2] They returned to Virginia and were arrested in the middle of the night by the county sheriff, who had received an anonymous tip.[3] They moved to Washington DC after pleading guilty to being married and being banned from living together in their home state, but returned to Virginia after the Supreme Court decision.

Mildred considered her marriage and the court decision to be God’s work, and she supported everyone’s right to marry whomever they wished.[4] She told the Washington Evening Star in 1965, when the case was pending, “We loved each other and got married. We are not marrying the state. The law should allow a person to marry anyone he wants.”[2]

On June 12, 2007, Mildred Loving issued a public statement for the 40th anniversary of the Loving v. Virginia Supreme Court decision, commenting on same-sex marriage.[5] Her statement concluded:

Surrounded as I am now by wonderful children and grandchildren, not a day goes by that I don’t think of Richard and our love, our right to marry, and how much it meant to me to have that freedom to marry the person precious to me, even if others thought he was the “wrong kind of person” for me to marry. I believe all Americans, no matter their race, no matter their sex, no matter their sexual orientation, should have that same freedom to marry. Government has no business imposing some people’s religious beliefs over others. Especially if it denies people’s civil rights.

I am still not a political person, but I am proud that Richard’s and my name is on a court case that can help reinforce the love, the commitment, the fairness, and the family that so many people, black or white, young or old, gay or straight, seek in life. I support the freedom to marry for all. That’s what Loving, and loving, are all about.

Mildred and Richard Loving had three children, Donald, Peggy and Sidney. Richard Loving died when a drunken driver struck their car in 1975; Mildred Loving lost her right eye in the same accident.