June 12, 1967
The U.S. Supreme Court, in Loving v. Virginia, struck down state miscegenation laws — those that prohibited interracial marriage — as violations of a person’s right to equal protection under the law, as guaranteed under the 14th Amendment. In June of 1958, Richard Loving and Mildred Jeter, a white man and an African-American woman, had married in Washington, D.C. Upon return to their home state of Virginia, the couple was arrested, convicted of a felony, and sentenced to a year in prison. The appeal of their conviction led to the decision. “The freedom to marry has long been recognized as one of the vital personal rights essential to the orderly pursuit of happiness by free men.” From Chief Justice Earl Warren’s majority opinion
