History maker — 05/ 06/08

Sat, May 17 2008

— Mildred Loving never sought, nor received, widespread recognition for her role in breaking down racial barriers, but her death Friday at the age of 68 serves as a positive reminder of just how far this nation has come in just 41 years.
In 1967, Loving, a black, and her white husband, Richard, changed history when the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously upheld their right to marry. In so doing, the highest court in the land struck down laws in 17 states — mostly in the South — banning racially mixed marriages.
“There can be no doubt that restricting the freedom to marry solely because of racial classifications violates the central meaning of the equal protection clause,” the court ruled in a landmark decision that broke down another racial barrier.
Richard Loving, who died in 1975, and Mildred Jeter were married in Washington, D.C., in 1958, when she was 18. Mildred later told the Associated Press that she didn’t realize it was illegal.
The marriage wasn’t illegal in the nation’s capital, but when the newlyweds returned to their native Virginia a few weeks later, they were arrested. They pleaded guilty to charges of “cohabiting as man and wife, against the peace and dignity of the Commonwealth.”
The couple avoided jail time by agreeing to leave Virginia for 25 years. They moved to Washington for several years, then launched a legal challenge by writing to Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, who referred the case to the American Civil Liberties Union.
A shy and soft-spoken woman, Mildred Loving shunned publicity and said she never wanted to be a hero — just a bride. She married Richard because she loved him, not because she wanted to make history.
Forty-one years after that Supreme Court ruling, interracial marriages are common and widely accepted in all 50 states. Biracial children now are part of America’s melting pot.
Mildred Loving’s death comes at a time when the controversial Rev. Jeremiah Wright is making headlines — and damaging the presidential hopes of Barack Obama — by claiming that America has made little progress toward ending racism. While progress has not come as quickly as most of us would hope, the death of Mildred Loving helps to remind us of just how much progress has been made.