June 12 – a day for “Loving” civil rights
Loving Day isn’t a federal holiday or even a state holiday, but the holiday celebrates a monumental turning point in civil rights. However, many people do not know what Loving Day is, so here are the basic facts.
- Mildred and Richard Loving were married in June of 1958 in Washington, D.C. However, when the couple returned to their home in Virginia, they were arrested, under the Racial Integrity Act of 1924, because Mildred was African-American and Richard was Caucasian.
- The couple fled to Washington, D.C. where they filed charges against Virginia. The Supreme Court voted unanimously that the Virginia law was unconstitutional and made mixed marriages legal. However, the last anti-miscegenation law was not removed from the law books until 2000 when Alabama removed their law.
- The holiday was started by Ken Tanabe who is of Japanese and Belgian descent. He found the Loving v. Virginia case online and realized that no one else knew about this landmark decision. Tanabe went on to organize the holiday to commemorate the court case and celebrate mixed marriages.
- Today, the holiday is celebrated in various cities like New York City and in countries around the world.
Read on:
The Loving v. Virginia case on FindLaw
If you enjoyed this post, please consider to leave a comment or subscribe to the feed and get future articles delivered to your feed reader.
What a great resource!