Richard and Mildred Loving were married in 1958 in Washington D.C. because their home state of Virginia still upheld the antimiscegenation law which stated that interracial marriages were illegal. They were married, then lived together in Caroline County, Virginia. In 1959 they were prosecuted and convicted of violating the states's antimiscegenation law. They were each sentenced one year in jail, but promised the sentence would be suspended if they agreed to leave the state and not return for 25 years. Forced to move, they returned to Washington D.C. where, in 1963, they initiated a suit challenging the constitutionality of the antimiscegenation law. In March of 1966, the Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals upheld the law, but in June of 1967, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously ruled the law unconstitutional. Thus, in 1967 the 16 states which still had antimiscegenation laws on their books were forced to erase them.
"The Couple That Rocked the Courts," Ebony v.22 (Sept. 1967), p.78-84.
"The Crime of Being Married," Life Magazine v.60 (18 March 1966), p.85-91.
Encyclopedia of African-American Civil Rights. Greenwood Press: New York, 1992.
The Guide to American Law. West Publishing Company: St. Paul, MN, 1984.
"A Legacy of Loving," New People v.2, no.2 (Nov/Dec 1991), p.9-12.
"The Loving Case: Virginia's Anti-Miscegenation Statute in Historical Perspective," Viginia Law Review v.52 (1966), p.1189-1223