|
Mildred Loving in 1967 with her husband, Richard.
FRANK MILLER
|
CAROLINE HEROINE DIES
'Heroine' Mildred Loving dies at 68
BY EDIE GROSS
Date published: 5/5/2008
BY EDIE GROSS
Mildred Loving hadn't intended to be a trailblazer.
She simply wanted to live her life with the man she loved in a quiet part of Caroline County.
But Mildred was black, and her husband, Richard, was white. And in 1958, laws in Virginia forbade such a pairing.
Their arrest and prosecution for violating the state's ban on interracial marriage would thrust the couple into the national spotlight, where they would ultimately change those laws for good.
Mildred Loving died Friday at the home in Central Point she fought so hard to return to. She was 68.
"She was just a down-to-earth, unpretentious woman," said Bernard Cohen, one of the lawyers who argued the Lovings' case before the U.S. Supreme Court. "She had a simple request: She wanted to love her husband, and she wanted her husband to love her."
Mildred Jeter and Richard Loving met as children in Caroline County and later fell in love. They married in Washington on June 2, 1958, and then returned home to Central Point.
Six weeks later, sheriff's deputies showed up in the middle of the night and arrested the couple, charging them with violating Virginia's Racial Integrity Act of 1924.
They were sentenced to one year in jail, but Caroline Circuit Judge Leon M. Bazile suspended the sentence as long as the Lovings left Virginia and agreed not to come back for 25 years.
They moved to Washington, but when the Civil Rights Act became law in 1964, Mildred Loving wrote Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy and asked him to intervene in the case.
Kennedy turned to the American Civil Liberties Union, and the resulting appeals went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.
On June 12, 1967, the Supreme Court cited the 14th Amendment when it struck down the Lovings' conviction as well as Virginia's laws banning interracial marriage.
The Lovings had returned to their Caroline home while the case was pending, and raised three children there.
Richard Loving died in 1975 after a drunk driver struck the couple's car. Mildred lost her right eye in the accident and later developed arthritis.
She had recently been hospitalized and had battled pneumonia, said Cohen, who visited her at home on Friday, shortly before she passed away, surrounded by her children and grandchildren. Cedell Brooks Funeral Home in Port Royal is handling the arrangements.
She'd granted few interviews in recent years, and always downplayed her role in the landmark case.
"It wasn't my doing," she told the Associated Press in 2007. "It was God's work."
Said Cohen: "She was a heroine who never understood why people thought she was a heroine."
Edie Gross: 540/374-5428
Email: egross@freelancestar.com
Read more stories about Caroline
Date published: 5/5/2008
Most recent reader comments:
Together at last with peace.......
(posted by
tbirdebbie
, May 14, 2008 2:43 pm)
This was an exceptional couple and now they are once again together but this time in complete peace. I wish I met this couple. I too have had several issues over the years about my bi-racial marriage and child. I was raised to see the person and not the color of their skin. My deepest sympathy to the family for losing such a fine woman at such an early age, but she is with the Lord and her husband now.
What an awesome couple!
(posted by
atlantab
, May 5, 2008 1:42 pm)
I can't imagine what this couple went through in 1958!! In 2008 people still like to stare and make rude comments! Good for the Lovings for standing up for what is right and just!! I don't know many people who would have had the courage to do the same.
I'm PROUD of My Grandmother!
(posted by
eugeniacosby
, May 5, 2008 12:01 pm)
I'm very proud of my grandma and I always will. She was a blessings to many individuals and couples in the world. She loved Grandpa and she fought the battle for what she knew was right and what GOD would allow. It was true love and she WON. Grandma was a precious jewel and I will miss her dearly. I teach my little ones that COLOR DOESN'T MATTER.
this is a true love story.. they didnt have to stay together. love doesnt come in one color or one sex or religon or back ground it comes in all forms.. i hope soon people will be more broad minded in life ive raised my kids ( that are now grown) to love who you choose and dont let any one tell you any diffent and as a parent will will accept your choices. lets hope others can find this in them Mildred Loving may you rest in peace now with your husband
And this was only 40 years ago
(posted by
patrick4hp
, May 5, 2008 11:21 am)
Virginia haa a Racial Integrity Act and they were not supposed to return to the state for 25 years. And, two years ago, Virginia said no to gay marriage and no to any sort of domestic partnership. We live in a society that discriminates.
|
Star Directory
