1. blackndns:

    The love story that changed history: Fascinating photographs of interracial marriage at a time when it was banned in 16 states

    Just 45 years ago, 16 states deemed marriages between two people of different races illegal.

    But in 1967, the U.S. Supreme Court considered the case of Richard Perry Loving, who was white, and his wife, Mildred Loving, of African American and Native American descent.

    The case changed history - and was captured on film by LIFE photographer Grey Villet, whose black-and-white photographs are now set to go on display at the International Center of Photography.

    Twenty images show the tenderness and family support enjoyed by Mildred and Richard and their three children, Peggy, Sidney and Donald.

    The children, unaware of the struggles their parents face, are captured by Villet as blissfully happy as they play in the fields near their Virginia home or share secrets with their parents on the couch.

    Their parents, caught sharing a kiss on their front porch, appear more worry-stricken.

    And it is no wonder - eight years prior, the pair had married in the District of Columbia to evade the Racial Integrity Act of 1924, which banned any white person marrying any non-white person.

    But when they returned to Virginia, police stormed into their room in the middle of the night and they were arrested.

    The pair were found guilty of miscegenation in 1959 and were each sentenced to one year in prison, suspended for 25 years if they left Virginia.

    They moved back to the District of Columbia, where they began the long legal battle to erase their criminal records - and justify their relationship.

    Following vocal support from the Presbyterian and Roman Catholic churches, the Lovings won the fight - with the Supreme Court branding Virginia’s anti-miscegenation law unconstitutional in 1967.

    It wrote in its decision: ‘Marriage is one of the basic civil rights of man, fundamental to our very existence and survival.

    ‘To deny this fundamental freedom on so unsupportable a basis as the racial classifications embodied in these statutes, classifications so directly subversive of the principle of equality at the heart of the Fourteenth Amendment, is surely to deprive all the State’s citizens of liberty without due process of law.’ [Read more] 

    2. 1 month ago  Notes (6674)
      1. melyssajayluvsrobby reblogged this from blackgirlswhiteboys
      2. woodhouseing reblogged this from catch-the-trade-winds
      3. play-till-death reblogged this from blackndns
      4. cynicteecrumpet reblogged this from eternallyseeking
      5. rebellookingforacause reblogged this from eternallyseeking
      6. lilatov reblogged this from arisakono and added:
        Too, too beautiful.
      7. eternallyseeking reblogged this from smithmisc
      8. snowguardian reblogged this from ragdolleopard
      9. axelfar reblogged this from ragdolleopard
      10. con35ymas reblogged this from theressomethingaboutmimi
      11. quondamdreams reblogged this from ragdolleopard
      12. ragdolleopard reblogged this from paulyoucana
      13. paulyoucana reblogged this from jujujordan and added:
        How pertinent this is in modern times. Why are we always fighting the same battles, only in different contexts?
      14. jujujordan reblogged this from theressomethingaboutmimi
      15. zosozeppelin87 reblogged this from sharlynharris
      16. theressomethingaboutmimi reblogged this from rudolove
      17. smokeandthecigarette reblogged this from rudolove
      18. uselesstogrowolder reblogged this from arisakono
      19. sharlynharris reblogged this from rudolove
      20. rudolove reblogged this from blackndns and added:
        Just 45 years ago, 16 states deemed marriages between two people of different races illegal. But in 1967, the U.S....
      21. ohokaybien reblogged this from sucka-emcee
      22. ehrevelry reblogged this from sucka-emcee
      23. sheistheblinddoll reblogged this from behindenemyeyes
      24. sucka-emcee reblogged this from tobia
      25. laughingoftenandmuch reblogged this from functionalnihilism
      26. functionalnihilism reblogged this from sevenpoints
      27. myencephalonjourneys reblogged this from lebeam
      28. trxfreely reblogged this from mybluedoor
      29. youcancallmegidget reblogged this from blackndns