RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) – Arrested for being a bi-racial couple, now a movie about their love story to be filmed in Virginia will profile Richard and Mildred Loving, whose marriage changed the law.
The pair was charged here in 1958, for violating the law prohibiting interracial marriage.
They sued, their case ultimately heard in 1967 by the US Supreme Court, which ruled in their favor.
8News went digging through archives and found Mildred and Richard Loving, telling their own story, nearly 50 years ago in 1967.
“I didn’t realize how bad it was until we got married,” said Mildred Loving during an interview from 1967.
Mildred and Richard Loving in the eyes of the law were criminals, in their own eyes, lovers.
“We were arrested, I guess it was about 2 a.m.,” said Mildred.
Their crime? A white man, marrying a black woman.
“I woke up and there was the police standing beside the bed, and he told us to get up that we was under arrest,” said Mildred.
Thrown in jail, they then became the poster couple for a land mark civil rights care for marriage equality.
“We were under a thousand dollar bond, and his sister got a bonding company to get him out and they told the bonding company if they tried to get me out that they would put him back in jail,” said Mildred sitting next to Richard.
Their story now the focus of a major motion picture, filming right here in Central Virginia.
The Loving’s legacy has lived on for advocates of marriage equality.
Ken Tanabe is the founder of LovingDay.org
“The anniversary of the loving case is actually June 12th and we celebrate that as Loving Day,” said Tanabe over a Skype interview.
He and his members are excited the Loving story is returning to the big screen.
“With some Hollywood Firepower behind it is very exciting, you know we are talking about the director who did Mud, and the actress was in World War Z and and the Actor was in Star Wars episode 2, that’s a huge deal,” said Tanabe.
