Unsung Hero: Woman who battled ban on Mixed-Race Marriages - Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community

Cynthetiq · 05-08-2008, 02:11 PM

Quote:

View: Mildred Loving, Who Battled Ban on Mixed-Race Marriage, Dies at 68
Source: NYTimes
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Mildred Loving, Who Battled Ban on Mixed-Race Marriage, Dies at 68
May 6, 2008
Mildred Loving, Who Battled Ban on Mixed-Race Marriage, Dies at 68
By DOUGLAS MARTIN
Mildred Loving, a black woman whose anger over being banished from Virginia for marrying a white man led to a landmark Supreme Court ruling overturning state miscegenation laws, died on May 2 at her home in Central Point, Va. She was 68.

Peggy Fortune, her daughter, said the cause was pneumonia.

The Supreme Court ruling, in 1967, struck down the last group of segregation laws to remain on the books — those requiring separation of the races in marriage. The ruling was unanimous, its opinion written by Chief Justice Earl Warren, who in 1954 wrote the court’s opinion in Brown v. Board of Education, declaring segregated public schools unconstitutional.

In Loving v. Virginia, Warren wrote that miscegenation laws violated the Constitution’s equal protection clause. “We have consistently denied the constitutionality of measures which restrict the rights of citizens on account of race,” he said.

By their own widely reported accounts, Mrs. Loving and her husband, Richard, were in bed in their modest house in Central Point in the early morning of July 11, 1958, five weeks after their wedding, when the county sheriff and two deputies, acting on an anonymous tip, burst into their bedroom and shined flashlights in their eyes. A threatening voice demanded, “Who is this woman you’re sleeping with?”

Mrs. Loving answered, “I’m his wife.”

Mr. Loving pointed to the couple’s marriage certificate hung on the bedroom wall. The sheriff responded, “That’s no good here.”

The certificate was from Washington, D.C., and under Virginia law, a marriage between people of different races performed outside Virginia was as invalid as one done in Virginia. At the time, it was one of 16 states that barred marriages between races.

After Mr. Loving spent a night in jail and his wife several more, the couple pleaded guilty to violating the Virginia law, the Racial Integrity Act. Under a plea bargain, their one-year prison sentences were suspended on the condition that they leave Virginia and not return together or at the same time for 25 years.

Judge Leon M. Bazile, in language Chief Justice Warren would recall, said that if God had meant for whites and blacks to mix, he would have not placed them on different continents. Judge Bazile reminded the defendants that “as long as you live you will be known as a felon.”

They paid court fees of $36.29 each, moved to Washington and had three children. They returned home occasionally, never together. But times were tough financially, and the Lovings missed family, friends and their easy country lifestyle in the rolling Virginia hills.

By 1963, Mrs. Loving could stand the ostracism no longer. Inspired by the civil rights movement and its march on Washington, she wrote Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy and asked for help. He wrote her back, and referred her to the American Civil Liberties Union.

The A.C.L.U. took the case. Its lawyers, Bernard S. Cohen and Philip J. Hirschkop, faced an immediate problem: the Lovings had pleaded guilty and had no right to appeal. So they asked Judge Bazile to set aside his original verdict. When he refused, they appealed. The Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals upheld the lower court, and the case went to the United States Supreme Court.

Mr. Cohen recounted telling Mr. Loving about various legal theories applying to the case. Mr. Loving replied, “Mr. Cohen, tell the court I love my wife, and it is just unfair that I can’t live with her in Virginia.”

Mildred Delores Jeter’s family had lived in Caroline County, Va., for generations, as had the family of Richard Perry Loving. The area was known for friendly relations between races, even though marriages were forbidden. Many people were visibly of mixed race, with Ebony magazine reporting in 1967 that black “youngsters easily passed for white in neighboring towns.”

Mildred’s mother was part Rappahannock Indian, and her father was part Cherokee. She preferred to think of herself as Indian rather than black.

Mildred and Richard began spending time together when he was a rugged-looking 17 and she was a skinny 11-year-old known as Bean. He attended an all-white high school for a year, and she reached 11th grade at an all-black school.

When Mildred became pregnant at 18, they decided to do what was elsewhere deemed the right thing and get married. They both said their initial motive was not to challenge Virginia law.

“We have thought about other people,” Mr. Loving said in an interview with Life magazine in 1966, “but we are not doing it just because somebody had to do it and we wanted to be the ones. We are doing it for us.”

In his classic study of segregation, “An American Dilemma,” Gunnar Myrdal wrote that “the whole system of segregation and discrimination is designed to prevent eventual inbreeding of the races.”

But miscegenation laws struck deeper than other segregation acts, and the theory behind them leads to chaos in other facets of law. This is because they make any affected marriage void from its inception. Thus, all children are illegitimate; spouses have no inheritance rights; and heirs cannot receive death benefits.

“When any society says that I cannot marry a certain person, that society has cut off a segment of my freedom,” the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said in 1958.

Virginia’s law had been on the books since 1662, adopted a year after Maryland enacted the first such statute. At one time or another, 38 states had miscegenation laws. State and federal courts consistently upheld the prohibitions, until 1948, when the California Supreme Court overturned California’s law.

Though the Supreme Court’s 1967 decision in the Loving case struck down miscegenation laws, Southern states were sometimes slow to change their constitutions; Alabama became the last state to do so, in 2000.

Mr. Loving died in a car accident in 1975, and the Lovings’ son Donald died in 2000. In addition to her daughter, Peggy Fortune, who lives in Milford, Va., Mrs. Loving is survived by her son, Sidney, of Tappahannock, Va.; eight grandchildren; and 11 great-grandchildren.

Mrs. Loving stopped giving interviews, but last year issued a statement on the 40th anniversary of the announcement of the Supreme Court ruling, urging that gay men and lesbians be allowed to marry.

I'm not married to a Filipina. I told my parents at a young age, I was not going to marry a Filipina and they would have to accept whomever I married. I never thought of the implications or ramifications. When I started dating it was "trendy" to date someone of another race. Mixed couples became commonplace. The same was for my sister. Both of us married White Jewish people.

While Mrs. Loving's last statement is a request to allow gay marriage. I know that it doesn't make that much of a difference to me any longer. It does bother me for some reason, reasons that I don't know or understand why. I may not want for it to change, but I recognize that it's not a rational reason and that for the majority of my fears/concerns, barring it matters not ultimately to my life, my community, and livelihood.

But I cannot stand here without my wife, thus I realize that no matter what unfounded irrational reasons, I have it does not matter. Love is what love is. I did not pick my wife as I would pick a book from a shelf. I discovered upon many visits that she meant more to me than just a casual friendship. I found that one day, I did not want to die not being married to her.

A few decades ago, this may not have been possible. A century ago? I don't doubt that someone gay or lesbian could or would feel the same way. I think I understand human beings just a little bit more.

What do you think about mixed race marriages? Are you in one?

allaboutmusic · 05-08-2008, 02:34 PM

I'm not in one, and am not currently dating anyone, but I expect that I will likely end up in a mixed-race relationship and eventually marriage.

inBOIL · 05-08-2008, 02:45 PM

I don't think the governmnet has any business concerning itself with marriage as anything but a contract between (or among) consenting adults.

mixedmedia · 05-08-2008, 02:53 PM

Mildred's name was appropriate.

My opinion on mixed race marriage is so positive that it's barely existent...more like something beyond questioning. Like breathing or walking.

I will never question someone's right to marry based on most any criteria...other than incest or dolphins, yadda, yadda, yadda.

Shaindra · 05-08-2008, 03:07 PM

My last boyfriend was bi-racial. I've also dated other black men. It's quite possible that I end up married to someone of a different race. I'm glad that I live in a time and place where that is legal and protected. Heck, I could marry someone of the same sex where I am...and that's pretty darn cool too.

Willravel · 05-08-2008, 03:16 PM

I nearly married a pinay woman when I was a lit younger. Did I spell that right, Cynth? Hindi ako nagasalita nong Tagalog.

Mildred Loving was a hero and I hope her name lives on as such. Championing racial equality in such a way as to help those who are in love shows true bravery.

Halx · 05-08-2008, 03:24 PM

My wife is Chinese. It's funny that we were once harassed by a crazy black woman who kept ranting, "White and Chinese do not mix!"

telekinetic · 05-08-2008, 04:04 PM

My wife is Navajo and Apache, and it is always hard for me to remember I'm in a 'mixed race marriage'

Fotzlid · 05-08-2008, 04:20 PM

Quote:

I nearly married a pinay woman when I was a lit younger. Did I spell that right,

Pinoy. Close.
I'm white, she's Filipino. We aren't married but have been together for 13 years now.
When I was younger, I never dated "outside my race" (god I hate that term) mostly because the group I hung around with were narrow minded idiots. I never understood what the big deal was. If its two people that are happy with each other, good for them.

Willravel · 05-08-2008, 04:46 PM

I think pinoy is male, pinay is female. That being the case, I most definitely did not almost marry a pinoy.

Fotzlid · 05-08-2008, 05:11 PM

lol

Never heard pinay before but just looked it up and you are correct sir.

Cynthetiq · 05-08-2008, 05:13 PM

I don't speak it unless I have to will.

I will be going to Las Vegas this weekend and eating at a restaurant called Pinoy Pinay need to have me some tapsilog and lumpia shanghai.

Willravel · 05-08-2008, 05:24 PM

Nothing in this world is as good as real lumpia, and Mildred Loving helped to make that experience possible for me. Had it not been for efforts like hers, dating pinay women would have been more difficult, and I may have still thought that lumpia was just another burrito knock-off.

Cynthetiq · 05-08-2008, 05:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by willravel

Nothing in this world is as good as real lumpia, and Mildred Loving helped to make that experience possible for me. Had it not been for efforts like hers, dating pinay women would have been more difficult, and I may have still thought that lumpia was just another burrito knock-off.

You are not to far from the truth. It's only recently that I have learned of the anti-miscegenation specifically stating that Filipinos were not allowed to marry white women. If you are a Black Eyed Peas fan you may have seen it in the http://youtube.com/watch?v=p0tNIwgo_Uc

Quote:

A time when manongs loved and lost (Philippine News)
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
by Lemery Reyes, Correspondent
SAN FRANCISCO — Today, many Filipino parents joke about wanting mestiza grandchildren to show off, but 60 years ago, that very idea was illegal and banned for our “manongs.”

Ricardo Alvarado was there to capture that era when Filipino men were barred from dating American women or engaging in interracial relationships. They were also prohibited from entering bars, hotels or clubs in California. Alvarado’s photographs are on display at the Hiram Johnson State Building in San Francisco throughout October to celebrate Filipino American history month. Sen. Leland Yee is the sponsor of the exhibit, “Through My Father’s Eyes: The Filipino American Photographs of Ricardo Ocreto Alvarado (1914-1976)” which is free and open to the public before the photographs are returned to the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. by Alvarado’s daughter, Janet.

From 1850-1948, many Asians — including Filipinos — and African Americans were specifically not allowed in California to have interracial marriages or relationships. As a result of the anti-miscegenation laws, many Filipino elders, or manongs, were discriminated against and were forced to have secret relationships and to socialize only within their own circles.

The Filipinos were specifically targeted in California because they were known to be romantic bachelors, and were accused of taking away American women from the American farm workers, triggering incidents of race riots in the 1920s and 1930s. One such incident is the Watsonville Riot of 1930 where about 400 white men stormed into a dance club frequented by Filipinos and attacked every “manong” they could find. The assault left one Filipino dead and dozens seriously wounded, prompting the California state legislature in 1933 to amend the interracial law to include Filipino-American marriages. The law was lenient, though, on Filipinos marrying fellow Asians, such as Japanese women. Other U.S. states also had similar anti-miscegenation laws, which were all overturned in the late 1960s. California became the first state to repeal the law in 1948.

Many of the public audience members who attended the exhibit’s opening night on Oct. 3, were impressed by the photographs of Alvarado, but were also shocked with how the elder Filipinos were treated.

Ellen Magallanes couldn’t believe how the Filipinos were treated during the 1950s. “It is a little bit shocking,” said Magallanes, who attended the exhibit with her husband Alan Arnold and their son. The couple later joked that if the anti-miscegenation laws existed today, they would not be married.

“From my perspective, the 50s was a smaller world,” said Arnold. “People didn’t understand tolerance back then.”

For Tiffany Leung, she believes interracial marriages must have been challenging in the earlier days. “I am sure it was definitely hard, especially with the language barriers,” said Leung as she looked at a photo of a Caucasian bride and her bridesmaids preparing for a wedding.

Janet Alvarado, then 17, found the photographs shortly after her father’s death in 1976. According to Janet, her father immigrated to the United States in 1928 and enlisted with the U.S. Army’s First Filipino Regiment. After World War II, Alvarado started photographing the lives of Filipino Americans in San Francisco and nearby communities. His photographs also captured smiling Filipinos lindy-hopping, going to service at a Methodist church, children hitting piñatas and farmers working in the fields of Stockton. The exhibit was first displayed at Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History in 2002. Since then, the exhibit went on a 15-city U.S. tour and will return to Washington, D.C. after its last display this month in San Francisco.

“To have my father’s photographs displayed in their ‘hometown’ in a fitting public space provided by the State of California is a special acknowledgement of Filipinos and their earlier San Francisco life, and culture celebrating the presence of Filipino Americans and their legacy in San Francisco,” said Janet. Currently, she also serves as the executive director of The Alvarado Project and possesses 1,000s of photographs and negatives taken by her father which have not yet been displayed.

Rudy Asercion, an executive director for a Filipino non-profit organization in San Francisco, said the 1950s was a dark period for the Filipinos. “It’s a sad part of history,” said Asercion. “At that time, it was very pitiful because Filipinos were not able to marry. Filipinos were put in a difficult situation because they needed to get married and have a family.”

Sen. Yee grew up in San Francisco and recalled the days when he experienced discrimination with his Filipino friends. He said sponsoring the exhibit was a “great responsibility” for him because of his lifelong ties to the Filipino community. “Many of the pictures bring back memories of my childhood,” said Yee, who encourages the youth to learn more about their history. “This project is about family. What is most important about the history are the individuals who have been neglected.”

Veny Zamora, 69, spoke with Philippine News about her uncles, who lived in California during the 1950s. According to Zamora, her uncles would write back to her in the Philippines about the discrimination they faced and how they were not able to marry Caucasians.

“We progressed a lot from then to now,” said Zamora, who said people in the Philippines were aware of life in the U.S. during the 50s. “They paved the way for us.”

re: Halx's experience, from time to time, we see looks from Asians. I don't really notice them as I'm not looking for them nor care to focus on them. If I do see them, I find them funny.

Willravel · 05-08-2008, 06:08 PM

The joke's on them. Interracial babies are better looking.

ColonelSpecial · 05-08-2008, 08:41 PM

My fiance and I were talking about this just tonight. I wondered if mixed race marriages were more common in Britain than America. Anyone have any thoughts?

jewels · 05-09-2008, 04:01 AM

My marriages were both to Hispanic men, but since most think I look Latin, and the fact that I'm in South Florida, I never had any problems.

I did, however, live with and date a black man for over two years and learned just how intolerant people are. Together, we were often victims of staring, glaring and even treated differently by sales people and hosts at restaurants. We thought it was hilarious.

I have no problem with mixed marriages. My broken marriages were not due to any cultural or ethnic difference. People are people and love is love.

echo5delta · 05-09-2008, 05:40 AM

I'd like to thank you for posting this, Cyn. It still boggles my mind that there were actually laws like this - not to speak of ideas or mindsets - not so long ago in this country. It's frustrating and heartbreaking for me to learn about racist legacies... but it's always good to learn something new, especially in a positive light like this. That tale deserves being retold for a long, long time.

When I was married, I liked to joke that it was "a mixed marriage - I'm Southern Baptist and she's Roman Catholic."

She is also Indian, from Goa, which really never caused any problems or weird looks that I noticed. Then again, we spent most of our time in very, very culturally diverse areas, so that probably kept anything from happening in the first place.

In retrospect, I worry about the result if there ever had been any problems. I don't have any PTSD or rage issues, but there's some shit that I just will not put up with.

I think a lot of that stems from the fact that my "White Guilt" at being a Southerner by birth turns into white rage over race issues with the quickness.

genuinegirly · 05-09-2008, 07:24 PM

What a special story.
I don't think about mixed-race marriages. Should I? Is it wrong that I have no opinion? Hmmm.

Sion · 05-09-2008, 07:31 PM

I'm in a mixed race marriage. She likes Nascar and I like Formula one.

Martian · 05-09-2008, 07:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by genuinegirly

I don't think about mixed-race marriages. Should I? Is it wrong that I have no opinion? Hmmm.

I think that was the goal. To make them commonplace enough that they're no more or less remarkable than same-race marriages.

05-08-2008, 02:45 PM	#3 (permalink)
inBOIL I have eaten the slaw	I don't think the governmnet has any business concerning itself with marriage as anything but a contract between (or among) consenting adults. __________________ And you believe Bush and the liberals and divorced parents and gays and blacks and the Christian right and fossil fuels and Xbox are all to blame, meanwhile you yourselves create an ad where your kid hits you in the head with a baseball and you don't understand the message that the problem is you.

05-08-2008, 02:53 PM	#4 (permalink)
mixedmedia has all her shots. Location: Florida	Mildred's name was appropriate. My opinion on mixed race marriage is so positive that it's barely existent...more like something beyond questioning. Like breathing or walking. I will never question someone's right to marry based on most any criteria...other than incest or dolphins, yadda, yadda, yadda. __________________ Most people go through life dreading they'll have a traumatic experience. Freaks were born with their trauma. They've already passed their test in life. They're aristocrats. - Diane Arbus PESSIMISM, n. A philosophy forced upon the convictions of the observer by the disheartening prevalence of the optimist with his scarecrow hope and his unsightly smile. - Ambrose Bierce

05-08-2008, 03:07 PM	#5 (permalink)
Shaindra Psycho Location: Massachusetts	My last boyfriend was bi-racial. I've also dated other black men. It's quite possible that I end up married to someone of a different race. I'm glad that I live in a time and place where that is legal and protected. Heck, I could marry someone of the same sex where I am...and that's pretty darn cool too. __________________ "Never regret something that once made you smile."

05-08-2008, 03:24 PM	#7 (permalink)
Halx Please touch this. Owner/Admin Location: Manhattan	My wife is Chinese. It's funny that we were once harassed by a crazy black woman who kept ranting, "White and Chinese do not mix!" __________________ You have found this post informative. -The Administrator [Don't Feed The Animals]

05-08-2008, 04:04 PM	#8 (permalink)
telekinetic zomgomgomgomgomgomg Location: Fauxenix, Azerona	My wife is Navajo and Apache, and it is always hard for me to remember I'm in a 'mixed race marriage' __________________ twisted no more

05-08-2008, 02:34 PM	#2 (permalink)
allaboutmusic Aurally Fixated	I'm not in one, and am not currently dating anyone, but I expect that I will likely end up in a mixed-race relationship and eventually marriage.

05-08-2008, 03:16 PM	#6 (permalink)
Willravel ... a sort of licensed troubleshooter.	I nearly married a pinay woman when I was a lit younger. Did I spell that right, Cynth? Hindi ako nagasalita nong Tagalog. Mildred Loving was a hero and I hope her name lives on as such. Championing racial equality in such a way as to help those who are in love shows true bravery.

05-08-2008, 04:46 PM	#10 (permalink)
Willravel ... a sort of licensed troubleshooter.	I think pinoy is male, pinay is female. That being the case, I most definitely did not almost marry a pinoy.

05-08-2008, 05:11 PM	#11 (permalink)
Fotzlid Junkie Location: Greater Boston area	lol Never heard pinay before but just looked it up and you are correct sir.

05-08-2008, 05:13 PM	#12 (permalink)
Cynthetiq Tilted Cat Head Administrator Location: Manhattan, NY	I don't speak it unless I have to will. I will be going to Las Vegas this weekend and eating at a restaurant called Pinoy Pinay need to have me some tapsilog and lumpia shanghai. __________________ I don't care if you are black, white, purple, green, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, hippie, cop, bum, admin, user, English, Irish, French, Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, Buddhist, Muslim, indian, cowboy, tall, short, fat, skinny, emo, punk, mod, rocker, straight, gay, lesbian, jock, nerd, geek, Democrat, Republican, Libertarian, Independent, driver, pedestrian, or bicyclist, either you're an asshole or you're not. What's the best nation in the world? DO-NATION!

05-08-2008, 05:24 PM	#13 (permalink)
Willravel ... a sort of licensed troubleshooter.	Nothing in this world is as good as real lumpia, and Mildred Loving helped to make that experience possible for me. Had it not been for efforts like hers, dating pinay women would have been more difficult, and I may have still thought that lumpia was just another burrito knock-off.

05-08-2008, 06:08 PM	#15 (permalink)
Willravel ... a sort of licensed troubleshooter.	The joke's on them. Interracial babies are better looking.

05-08-2008, 08:41 PM	#16 (permalink)
ColonelSpecial Insane	My fiance and I were talking about this just tonight. I wondered if mixed race marriages were more common in Britain than America. Anyone have any thoughts? __________________ "Mommy, the presidents are squishing me!" "Using the pull out method of contraceptive is like saying I won't use a seat belt, I'll just jump out of the car before it hits that tree." Sara

05-09-2008, 04:01 AM	#17 (permalink)
jewels Eponymous Location: Central Central Florida	My marriages were both to Hispanic men, but since most think I look Latin, and the fact that I'm in South Florida, I never had any problems. I did, however, live with and date a black man for over two years and learned just how intolerant people are. Together, we were often victims of staring, glaring and even treated differently by sales people and hosts at restaurants. We thought it was hilarious. I have no problem with mixed marriages. My broken marriages were not due to any cultural or ethnic difference. People are people and love is love. __________________ We are always more anxious to be distinguished for a talent which we do not possess, than to be praised for the fifteen which we do possess. Mark Twain

05-09-2008, 05:40 AM	#18 (permalink)
echo5delta Crazy Location: Swamp Lagoon, North Cackalacky	I'd like to thank you for posting this, Cyn. It still boggles my mind that there were actually laws like this - not to speak of ideas or mindsets - not so long ago in this country. It's frustrating and heartbreaking for me to learn about racist legacies... but it's always good to learn something new, especially in a positive light like this. That tale deserves being retold for a long, long time. When I was married, I liked to joke that it was "a mixed marriage - I'm Southern Baptist and she's Roman Catholic." She is also Indian, from Goa, which really never caused any problems or weird looks that I noticed. Then again, we spent most of our time in very, very culturally diverse areas, so that probably kept anything from happening in the first place. In retrospect, I worry about the result if there ever had been any problems. I don't have any PTSD or rage issues, but there's some shit that I just will not put up with. I think a lot of that stems from the fact that my "White Guilt" at being a Southerner by birth turns into white rage over race issues with the quickness. __________________ "Peace" is when nobody's shooting. A "Just Peace" is when we get what we want. - Bill Mauldin

05-09-2008, 07:24 PM	#19 (permalink)
genuinegirly Eat your vegetables Super Moderator Location: Arabidopsis-ville	What a special story. I don't think about mixed-race marriages. Should I? Is it wrong that I have no opinion? Hmmm. __________________ "Sometimes I have to remember that things are brought to me for a reason, either for my own lessons or for the benefit of others." Cynthetiq "violence is no more or less real than non-violence." roachboy

05-09-2008, 07:31 PM	#20 (permalink)
Sion Dumb all over...a little ugly on the side Location: In the room where the giant fire puffer works, and the torture never stops.	I'm in a mixed race marriage. She likes Nascar and I like Formula one. __________________ He's the best, of course, of all the worst. Some wrong been done, he done it first. -fz I jus' want ta thank you...falettinme...be mice elf...agin...