Celebrate Loving Day Every June 12
On the one hand, Loving Day isn’t quite what it sounds like. On the other hand, it’s pretty much exactly what it sounds like: a celebration of love.
But it doesn’t get its name from love. It gets its name from the 1967 US Supreme Court case Loving v. Virginia.
Yes, Loving was a person’s name. And, coincidentally, the perfect name for this case, which was about the right to marry the person you love, no matter that person’s race.
We celebrate Loving Day on June 12, because that’s the date the Supreme Court made its decision.
The day is not officially recognized by the federal government. There was a campaign to make it so, but it did not succeed.
But some states and municipalities, including Washington D.C., have officially recognized the day. The Loving’s home county of Caroline County, Virginia issued a proclamation in 2011 recognizing Loving Day.
About the Court Case Behind Loving Day
Richard and Mildred Loving were a white man and a black woman who married in 1958. But at that time interracial marriage was still illegal in 16 states. That included Virginia, where they met and planned to live.
But apparently they didn’t realize what they were doing was illegal. They knew Virginia didn’t allow marriage ceremonies between interracial couples, so they had their ceremony in Washington, D.C. They returned to Virginia as a married couple. And were soon arrested.
Virginia law didn’t just ban the ceremony, it banned any “cohabiting as man and wife” between a white person and a non-white person. So even a marriage legal in other places (like Washington, D.C.) became illegal once the couple entered Virginia.
The judge told them “Almighty God created the races white, black, yellow, Malay and red, and he placed them on separate continents. The fact that he separated the races shows that he did not intend for the races to mix.”
Then he sentenced the couple to a year in jail but gave them the option to leave the state for 25 years instead. They chose to leave and went back to Washington, D.C.
But just because their marriage was legal didn’t mean they didn’t face discrimination. In fact, they found discrimination pretty much everywhere they turned.
So they fought back, writing to Robert F. Kennedy, then the Attorney General of the United States. He referred their case to the American Civil Liberties Union, which helped them find lawyers to take their case.
Eventually the case made it to the Supreme Court.
On June 12, 1967, the Supreme Court ruled that “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.”
According to then Chief Justice Earl Warren, “Under our Constitution, the freedom to marry, or not marry, a person of another race resides within the individual and cannot be infringed on by the State.”
Mr. and Mrs. Loving were able to move back to Virginia. They had three children, but sadly weren’t able to finish raising them together. Richard died in 1975 in a car accident. Mildred lived until 2008.
And because of their efforts, other interracial couples were free to marry. And it wasn’t just black and white people. Many anti-miscegenation laws forbade relationships between whites and any other race, including Native American, Asians and Hispanics.
The Man Behind Loving Day
Loving Day was created by Ken Tanabe, a man of Belgian and Japanese descent. He didn’t think much about being of mixed race growing up. But without the Loving decision he might not even exist, because his parents may not have been free to marry.
Tanabe discovered the Loving case in 2001, while doing other research online. He did some additional research, and he found the case compelling, but soon put it aside.
Then in 2003 he decided to make it part of his master’s thesis in design and technology. He created the Loving Day website and other marketing material, submitting it in May 2004. The first Loving Day party took place just a month later.
Even with such a short time to plan, he managed to set up public celebrations in New York and Seattle. The celebrations quickly grew and spread each year, until most large cities in the US were honoring the day.
He continues to lead a team of volunteers to plan events for this day and throughout the year.
Read Tanabe’s interview with Village Voice in 2006.
Scroll down for some ideas on celebrating this lovely unofficial holiday.
How to Celebrate Loving Day
Help spread awareness that racial discrimination still exists and how wrong it is for anyone to judge others based solely on the color of their skin.
(Any other forms of discrimination are also wrong, but this day focuses specifically on race. Because that’s what the case was about).
So hold your own celebration of diversity or be a part of public celebrations held in cities around the country.
The Loving Day website has resources to help you plan or find a celebration.
And explore the site to learn more about the Loving case, discriminatory laws and ways to support the Loving Day mission.
You may also want to watch the movie about the Lovings, called appropriately Loving.
Or read the documentary novel about the case, Loving vs Virginia.
There’s also a picture book to help kids understand some of the history of racial inequality. It’s called The Case for Loving: The Fight for Interracial Marriage, and it’s recommended for ages 4 – 8.
