MR AND MRS LOVING newlyweds Richard and Mildred Loving lay asleep in bed At two o'clock in the morning they awoke to loud knocking The door burst open A sheriff and two deputies rushed in The sheriff pointed a flashlight at their faces The sheriff asked Richard what he was doing in bed with Mildred Mildred pointed at their marriage license on the dresser She explained that she was his wife The sheriff replied that the couple could not be husband and wife in Virginia The date was July 11 1958. The place was Central Point Virginia The officers had been Mildred and Richard Loving married in 1958 7
sent by the county attorney to arrest the Lovings The attorney had received an anonymous tip that Richard and Mildred had broken a state law The law banned interracial marriage Twenty five year old Richard was a white construction worker Nineteen year old Mildred was of mixed African American and Native American descent The two were longtime friends They were in love Five weeks ago they had traveled to Washington DC Interracial marriage was legal there They married and returned to their hometown They were staying in the downstairs bedroom of Mildred's parents house while Richard built them a home of their own Mildred was pregnant with their first child INTERRACIAL MARRIAGE LAWS In 1958 marriage between white and black people was illegal in Virginia and 23 other US states These laws had been in place for many years Virginia's first law banning interracial marriage was passed in 1691. At that time 8
Virginia was a colony Virginia law forbade white people from marrying black people and Native Americans The punishment for breaking this law was banishment from the colony In 1705 Virginia's lawmakers changed the punishment Any white person who married a black person would be jailed and forced to pay a fine The minister who performed the wedding ceremony would be fined too Other laws in the colonies made it illegal for black and white people to have children together Still slaveholders sometimes had children JUMPING THE BROOM Enslaved people were not allowed to be married in an official ceremony Instead enslaved couples were often married in a ceremony called jumping the broom A broom was laid on the ground or held in the air The couple jumped over the broom This ceremony symbolized the sweeping away of evil spirits It recognized the couple as husband and wife with the women they enslaved By law the child of an enslaved woman would also be a slave The child would 9
