Événement

Documentary: Civil Rights in Black and White: The Loving Story

Married in Washington, D.C. on June 2, 1958, Richard Loving and Mildred Jeter returned home to Virginia where their marriage was declared illegalhe was white, and she was black and Native American. At the time, anti-miscegenation laws were upheld in 16 states. The Lovings refused to leave one another and, with the help of the American Civil Liberties Union, took their case all the way to the United States Supreme Court, whose 1967 decisionunder Chief Justice Earl Warrenfinally struck down state laws against interracial marriage throughout the country. The film takes viewers behind the scenes of the legal challenges and the emotional turmoil that they entailed, documenting a seminal moment in American history and reflecting a timely message of marriage equality in a personal, human love story. (2011, 77 minutes)

This series is made possible through Brooklyn Public Library's Fund for the Humanities, established through the generous support of the National Endowment for the Humanities. Additional funding was provided by the Hearst Foundation, Inc.; the Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation; the Starr Foundation; the Leon and Muriel Gilbert Charitable Trust; the Henry and Lucy Moses Fund, Inc.; and a gift in memory of Samuel and Pauline Wine.