Monday marks 50th anniversary of Loving decision on interracial marriage

By ANDREW CAIN Richmond Times-Dispatch 13 hrs ago

Monday marks the 50th anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark decision in Loving v. Virginia, which effectively struck down bans on interracial marriage in Virginia and 15 other states.

The court ruled unanimously that Virginia’s anti-miscegenation statutes violated the 14th Amendment to the Constitution, which guarantees equal protection under the law.

In delivering the court’s opinion on June 12, 1967, Chief Justice Earl Warren said: “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.”

Much has changed since the historic victory of Richard and Mildred Loving, a mixed-race couple from Caroline County, whose story was told in the film “Loving.” ... The Pew Research Center reported last month that as of 2015, 17 percent of U.S. newlyweds had a spouse with a different race or ethnicity. That was up from 3 percent in 1967.
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acain@timesdispatch.com

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