Richard Loving (May 2, 1921 – January 12, 1975) and Mildred Delores Jeter (July 22, 1921 – May 5, 2008) were an American couple whose arrest and legal battle in Virginia played a pivotal role in the civil rights movement of the 1960s. Richard Loving was white and Mildred Jeter was black. Richard was born in Caroline County, Virginia to Richard Henry Loving (1899–1970) and Florence Jeter (1901–1977).
Richard was the only child of the couple’s six children. The family home still stands on what is now Routes 672 and 762 between Center Cross and St. Paul. Richard Loving enlisted in the United States Coast Guard in 1939 and served throughout World War II. Richard met Mildred at a dance in 1939 when Richard was 19 and Mildred was 15. Richard soon bought a 1941 Packard and began taking Mildred on dates to neighboring counties, where they could meet without the risk of miscegenation laws.
Richard’s mother once told her son that his father Richard Henry Loving would shoot Richard if Richard brought home a black girl he wanted to marry. Richard then stopped dating the “colored” girls around town and began dating Mildred exclusively. The couple married in June 2, 1958 when Richard was 27 and Mildred was 18 in Washington D.C., while Richard was residing there for work purposes.
The couple returned home to Caroline County, Virginia for a secret midnight ceremony in the parlor of Richard’s parents’ home. Richard and Mildred had three children: Donald (b. 1959), Peggy (b. 1960), Sidney (b. 1963). Richard took his family to live with him in Washington for about 10 months, returning to Caroline County on weekends, where he worked as a bricklayer and farmer on his family-owned land.
Tensions began between Richard and Mildred’s families after the couple decided they wanted to buy some property together. The issue came down to one thing: Richard Loving was white and Mildred Jeter was black. The Virginia law at the time prohibited such relationships, so Richard and Mildred traveled to Washington D.C., which did not have such laws, to be married.
Richard and Mildred returned to their home in Caroline County after the marriage. Not long after Richard and Mildred’s return, they were asleep at their home when two county sheriff deputies broke into their bedroom. The officers demanded Richard and Mildred accompany them to the county courthouse where they could be charged because of Virginia’s anti-miscegenation law (Virginia Code § 20-58). Richard was sentenced to one year in prison but only spent a few hours behind bars before his bail was posted by Donald Loving, Richard’s younger brother.
Richard hired Washington lawyer Bernard Cohen to file a motion with the Caroline County Circuit Court for a writ of “habeas corpus” following his arrest; however, this motion was denied. Richard and Mildred then began their journey to the Supreme Court. Richard was an American of African descent on his maternal side, while Mildred traced her heritage to white European Americans.
The Lovings had met when Richard was 19 and Mildred was 15 in 1939, marrying two years later at a civil ceremony in Washington D.C., where they both were residing at that time. Richard stopped dating “colored” girls around town after meeting Mildred and only dated her exclusively from then on. Richard Loving died aged 53 in 1975 as he was hit by a drunk driver traveling in the opposite direction near his Caroline County home as Richard was returning from work one night.
Richard’s family buried him beside Mildred who also died aged 56 in 2008, as she suffered from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), which eventually developed into lung cancer . Richard and his family were living in Caroline County, Virginia when Richard was sentenced to one year in prison for marrying Mildred Jeter Loving. Richard’s brother Donald helped Richard post bail the night he was arrested by their sheriff deputies.
The Supreme Court unanimously ruled against Virginia’s anti-miscegenation law (which made it illegal for people of different races to marry) stating that “Marriage is one of the ‘basic civil rights of man,’ fundamental to our very existence and survival… Under our Constitution, the freedom to marry, or not marry, a person of another race resides with the individual and cannot be infringed by the state”.
Richard and Mildred’s case ruled in favor of Richard Loving v. Virginia on June 12, 1967. Richard and his family lived happily ever after with no more interference from the law or their families. After Richard passed away at age 53, Richard was buried beside his wife Mildred who died at age 56 from COPD that developed into lung cancer.
In the U.S., the race is a social construct based on physical differences among human beings designed to justify relations of domination and subordination. According to Merriam-Webster Dictionary, miscegenation is “the mixture of races; specifically: marriage, cohabitation, or sexual intercourse between a white person and a member of another race”. In 1662, Maryland enacted the first anti-miscegenation law in the U.S., which prohibited marriages between white women and black men, followed by similar laws in most Southern colonies.
Richard Loving, a white man, and Mildred Jeter, a black woman, were convicted of breaking Virginia’s anti-miscegenation law under the Racial Integrity Act of 1924 after marrying each other in Washington D.C., where interracial marriage was legal at that time. Richard Loving was sentenced to one-year imprisonment with his term suspended on condition that he not return to Virginia together with his wife for 25 years. Richard died from injuries suffered when struck by a drunk driver returning from work one night while Richard’s wife Mildred died at age 44 due to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
Richard and his family lived happily ever after the end of Richard Loving v. Virginia, a landmark civil rights case that ended anti-miscegenation laws in the U.S. Richard’s family was happy because Richard married Mildred Jeter after Richard stopped dating colored girls around town and Richard no longer had to worry about going to jail for marrying a black woman as Richard got what he wanted from marrying Mildred—security from prosecution under an interracial marriage law.