elopements with love, love conquers all, elope san diego
marry who you love
Time for a quick little history lesson about love and marriage!
Mildred and Richard Loving were married in June of 1958
in Washington DC, just 80 miles from their home.
They happily returned to their home
in Central Point, Virginia as newlyweds.
Central Point had been Mildred's home for generations,
and the couple had known each other
since they were children.
But not long after their return, at 2 AM in the morning,
Sheriff Garnett Brooks made his way into their bedroom.
He arrested them for
"cohabiting as man and wife against the
peace and dignity of the of the Commonwealth".
Richard spent one night in jail, Mildred was detained several days.
Their court costs were $ 36.29.
At the time,
it was illegal for a black woman and a white man to be married.
In fact, it was a FELONY. With a maximum sentence of five years.
The law had been on the books since 1662 and updated in 1924.
It required that both parties have
"white" only ancestry from at least the year 1684
to be married to one another.
Mildred and RIchard, man and wife pleaded guilty on January 6, 1959
and were sentenced to a year in prison.
They were given a "deal" to have a suspended
sentence if they would leave Virginia for 25 years,
and they took that option.
However, they returned for Easter one year to visit their families and
were arrested again for violating the terms of their sentence.
For future visit they were forbidden from traveling together.
The lived in Washington DC, far from family and friends,
and struggled in every way.
As things got worse for the family,
Mildred wrote a letter to Robert Kennedy,
she wanted to challenge the law!
Robert Kennedy who was our Attorney General
at the time helped her and
found someone to take her case.
Because they Lovings had accepted the court's plea bargain, they couldn't appeal.
It was a struggle, but they won their case, so aptly name:
"Loving vs. the Commonwealth of Virginia"
The Supreme Court overturned the Virginia
conviction in a unanimous decision... on June 12, 1967.
The court ruled that Virginia's anti miscegenation statute
violated both the"due process clause"
and the "equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.
Mildred and Richard had three children,
she passed away in Central Point on May 2, 2008,
Richard was killed by a drunk driver in 1975
Steve and I were in Junior HIgh School when this ruling was made,
doesn't seem like that long ago....
We LOVE AND RESPECT
Mildred's moxey, as a woman,
a wife and mother!
