They left their home and moved to Washington, D.C.
Life in exile
City life was difficult for the Lovings.
Richard missed the quiet countryside of Virginia.
Mildred missed her family and the community where she grew up.
They had three children:
• Sidney
• Donald
• Peggy
But under Virginia’s ruling, they could not return home together.
If they did, they could be sent to prison.
Still, they risked secret trips back home whenever they could.
The fear never went away.
The letter that changed history
In 1963, after five years of exile, Mildred did something simple but powerful.
She wrote a letter.
It was addressed to Robert F. Kennedy.
She explained their situation plainly:
They were legally married in Washington, D.C.
But Virginia had jailed them and forced them to leave.
She asked if anything could be done.
Kennedy forwarded the letter to the American Civil Liberties Union.
Two young lawyers took the case:
• Bernard S. Cohen
• Philip J. Hirschkop
They believed the Lovings’ story could challenge every interracial marriage ban in America.
A judge invokes God to defend segregation
In 1965, Judge Bazile refused to overturn the conviction.
His reasoning shocked many.
He wrote that God had placed the races on separate continents and that this separation showed God did not intend the races to mix.
But the Lovings’ attorneys refused to stop.
They appealed the case again.
Eventually it reached the highest court in the country.
The case that changed America
The Loving v. Virginia was argued before the Supreme Court of the United States on April 10, 1967.
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