House and arrested them for the crime of being married. the crime of being married. they were sentenced to one year in prison unless they agreed to leave virginia and not return for 25 years. they appealed the sentence, and it wasn t until nine years later, in 1967, the supreme court of the united states ruled unanimously undeclared the loss against interracial marriage were unconstitutional. today, today we are joined by one of the lawyers who represented the lovings and the widow of the other lawyer that took the fight to the highest court because they believed their love should not be criminalized, but should be honored and respected, as mildred loving said, radius generations were, quote, bitterly divided over something that should have been so clear and bright. no one could put it better, and
Later mildred fought something else that s so clear and bright, marriage equality for lgbtq americans, and today we celebrate our progress, from hawaii, the first day to declare that denying marriage of same-sex couples unconstitutional to massachusetts, for state to legalize marriage equality for couples like gina and heidi who you just heard from. to all the advocates excuse me, who worked to block or overturn state bands, as you heard earlier, vice president harris took a stand as attorney general in california. others also spoke out, one of them was my son, beau biden, who was attorney general in the state of delaware in the push to add
Of plaintiffs up there, don t jump. dozens of plaintiffs who fought for marriage equality through the years as well as families whose existence would not be possible without the bonds of love that this law honors and protects. look, we are here to celebrate their courage, and everyone who made the day possible. courage, that led to progress, we ve seen over the decades, progress that gives us hope, that every generation will continue toward our journey to a more perfect union. on this day, i think of mildred and richard loving, a young woman of color and a young white man, they met as family friends and eventually fell in love. in 1958, they drove to washington, d.c., to get married, because the relationship was illegal in virginia. they went back home, five weeks later, police burst into their
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Based on junk science theories. it was violating that law that led to the arrest of mildred and richard loving, an african-american woman, and a white man, who married in washington, d.c. in 1958 and were arrested upon returning home to virginia. when they were later convicted on felony charges, leon vasal, the judge who presided over the case said to them in the courtroom, almighty god created the races, white, black, yellow, melee, and red and he placed them on separate continents. the fact that he separates the races shows that he did not intend for the races to mix. still with me, adam soro, dorothy, and tanner caolby, and my uncle. so tanner, i want to start with you, because this central reversion, this kind of emotion seems to be you can t just argue about it, you can t just show me a graph or a chart showing that intelligence is equally distributed. you have to actually change it
Was a way of life in america. it leads directly to what s going on today, the same struggles going on in the 50 states regarding gay marriage. loving versus virginia is is one of the court cases that supported of marriage equality are using as they take their battle through the supreme court. richard and mildred were not active in the civil rights movement however they became civil rights heroes when it overturned race-based bans. they won for love everywhere in 1967. the parallels between loving versus virginia and the fight for same sex marriage are undeniable. and marnl has already changed a great deal over the years. back with me now to discuss the changes ahead are serene jones of union theological seminary and kenji and an thee abut letter. i really love the children in that segment. irresistible. you wanted to just hug them or pinch them or something. you know, interestingly, one of
Mildred and richard kissed because it showed that they really loved each other. a south african born photographer. you can see some of his pictures behind me in the gallery. at the time. lifelike many other media outlets was afraid of dealing with the topic of interracial sex and marriage. i remember the life magazine pause our family subscribed to it. this was 1966. i was an eighth grader. we saw and read in the newspapers what was going on with this family, how they were being prosecuted. i remember being a teenager in the mid 60s and reading about and hearing about the story. i don t know if i realized the impact of this story. it went so beyond one little family. it s something to see these again. now that i live in virginia, it s hard to believe that this
In particular, one couple who paved the way for me. mildred and richard loving were two people, well, in love. it was the 1950s and interracial marriages were illegal in virginia. in the middle of night in july 11, 1958, police broke into their home and arrested them. the aclu took on their case and began the fight to overturn the ban on mixed marriages. this case is deeply personal to me. i m the child of an interracial couple and raised in virginia less than a decade after the loving decision. when i heard that there was an exhibit of little seen photographs of of the lovings, i sent our camera and brilliant producer allison down to capture a bit of what the photographs tell us about the couple who changed marriage forever. he was able to capture a lot of their quietness. my name is erin barnett, i m the assistant curator of the collections after the international center of photography. richard perry loving and mildred jeter were married in washington, d.c. in 1958.
Married in 2010 were across racial lines. in 1980 only 3% of marriages were interracial. it all started with mildred and richard loving, who got married in 1958, only to be arrested five weeks later because she was black and he was white. the lovings story debuted this week on hbo, about the landmark case that went all the way to the supreme court. that is the right of richard and mildred loving to wake up in the morning or to go to sleep at night knowing that the sheriff will not be knocking on their door. reporter: in 1967 the justices ruled in favor of ending race-based legal restrictions on marriage. and that same year mom. this is john. reporter: sydney poitier starred in this groundbreaking drama, guess who s coming to dinner, about a parent s acceptance of an interracial couple. and now nearly 50 years later? it s clearly a case where the