TBA Law Blog


Posted by: Stacey Shrader Joslin on Nov 22, 2016

A 1958 civil rights case is coming to the big screen tomorrow with the release of “Loving.” The film follows the story of Mildred Jeter and Richard Loving, an interracial couple, who were married in Washington, D.C., but soon moved back to their home in Virginia. A pregnant Mrs. Loving and her husband were yanked out of bed by police enforcing Virginia’s Racial Integrity Act, which prohibited interracial marriage. They were arrested and ordered by a judge to dissolve their union or leave the state for 25 years. For nearly a decade, the Lovings fought the law, ultimately prevailing when the U.S. Supreme Court struck it down in 1967. The New York Times reviews the film.