In honor of the recent Cheerios commercial I am celebrating Loving Day today. June 12th is an annual celebration held on the anniversary of the 1967 United States Supreme Court decision Loving vs. Virginia. This decision legalized inter-racial marriage in the United States.
In The Loving Story HBO created a wonderful film about Richard and Mildred Loving in which they not only tell their story but also talk about the acceptance of inter-racial marriage in our world today. To think that only forty-six years ago inter-racial marriage was illegal is astonishing. Remarkably, the Lovings decision to fight back dramatically affected my extended family and maybe yours too. So today I’m grateful for the Lovings and their ability to walk the difficult road against institutional racism.
Lovingday.org has an amazing map that displays each state’s restriction on inter-racial marriage and the year it was lifted. You can also locate a Loving Day celebration to join near you on their website.