Mildred Loving, matriarch of interracial marriage, dies

[marmar]

from AP, via Yahoo!:



Mildred Loving, matriarch of interracial marriage, dies
By DIONNE WALKER, Associated Press Writer
1 hour, 9 minutes ago



RICHMOND, Va. - Mildred Loving, a black woman whose challenge to Virginia's ban on interracial marriage led to a landmark Supreme Court ruling striking down such laws nationwide, has died, her daughter said Monday.

Peggy Fortune said Loving, 68, died Friday at her home in rural Milford. She did not disclose the cause of death.

Loving and her white husband, Richard, changed history in 1967 when the U.S. Supreme Court upheld their right to marry. The ruling struck down laws banning racially mixed marriages in at least 17 states.

They had married in Washington in 1958, when she was 18. Returning to their Virginia hometown, they were arrested within weeks and convicted on charges of "cohabiting as man and wife, against the peace and dignity of the Commonwealth," according to their indictments.

The couple avoided a year in jail by agreeing to a sentence mandating that they immediately leave Virginia. They moved to Washington and launched a legal challenge a few years later.

After the Supreme Court ruled, the couple returned to Virginia, where they lived with their children Donald, Peggy and Sidney.

Richard Loving died in 1975 in a car accident that also injured his wife.

In a rare interview with The Associated Press last June, Loving said she wasn't trying to change history — she was just a girl who once fell in love with a boy.

"It wasn't my doing," Loving said. "It was God's work."


http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080505/ap_on_re_us/obit_loving

[AspenRose]

1. Oh, no.

I owe you my gratitude, Mrs. Loving. :cry:

[Starbucks Anarchist]

2. Rest in peace.

[MountainLaurel]

3. Bless her.

Just a girl who fell in love with a boy.

[MADem]

4. I always found that couple's surname heartening. Certainly appropriate.

Way too young to go, both of them.

[Toucano]

5. Rest in Peace, Mrs. Loving.

You're an inspiration.

[madaboutharry]

6. "Just a girl....."

Often people like the Lovings the true heroes among us.

There is a movie about them called "Mr. and Mrs. Loving" that I saw on television a few years ago. It was wonderful.

[Laughing Mirror]

7. RIP, my Sister

Two people who love each other have the right to be together. That was the simple message you brought to us here in this world, a world that changed for the better because of your love.

[kwassa]

8. well, they helped make my marriage possible.

so thanks to the Lovings for loving each other, and doing the right thing for the right reasons.

rest in peace, Mildred.

[sktmax]

9. rest in peace

[Midlodemocrat]

10. She was an amazing woman. RIP, Mildred.

[malaise]

11. Loving in name and nature

Rest in peace dear lady.