Kentucky

Mildred Loving, one of the defendants in the Virginia case that wound its way up to the US Supreme Court passed away.  The decision, Loving v. Virginia, 388 US 1 (1967) can be found by clicking here.  SCOTUS had struck down laws banning racially mixed marriages. 

The story found in the papers today is as follows.

Mildred Loving fought mixed-race marriage bans

Mildred Loving, a black woman whose challenge to Virginia's ban on interracial marriage led to a landmark Supreme Court ruling striking down such laws nationwide, has died, her daughter said Monday.

Peggy Fortune said Mrs. Loving, 68, died Friday at her home in rural Milford. She did not disclose the cause of death.

"I want (people) to remember her as being strong and brave yet humble, and believed in love," Fortune said.

Mrs. Loving and her white husband, Richard, changed history in 1967 when the U.S. Supreme Court upheld their right to marry. The ruling struck down laws banning racially mixed marriages in at least 17 states.

"There can be no doubt that restricting the freedom to marry solely because of racial classifications violates the central meaning of the equal protection clause," the court ruled in a unanimous decision.

Today 2:03 AM