“If the parties desire to maintain the relations of man and wife, they must change their domicile and go to some state or country where the laws recognize the validity of such marriages."
~Judge Joseph Christian, Kinney v. Commonwealth, 1874
Laying the Foundation
"All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside. No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws."
~14th Admendment, July 28, 1868
Northwest Enterprise, 1937
These cases demonstrate a history of anti-miscegenation in the United States and set a precedent for the Lovings to get rid of miscegenation laws.
Kinney v. Commonwealth
Andrew Kinney (black man) and Mahala Miller (white woman) went to Washington, D.C., to marry. When returning home to Virginia, they were charged with “lewd and lascivious cohabitation.” Kinney’s argument stated because they were married in D.C., where mixed-race marriage was legal, their marriage was valid once they returned to Virginia. They were found guilty of miscegenation and fined.
Pace v. Alabama
In 1881, Tony Pace (black man) and Mary Cox (white woman) were convicted under Alabama’s section 4189 for having an extramarital relationship. Pace appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court saying that his sentence conflicted with the 14th amendment of the Constitution. The final ruling was in favor of Alabama, stating the convictions stand because they applied equally to both defendants, therefore not in violation of the 14th Amendment equal protection clause.
“If any white person and any negro, or the descendant of any negro to the third generation, inclusive, through one ancestor of each generation was a white person, intermarry or live in adultery or fornication with each other, each of them must, on conviction, be imprisoned in the penitentiary or sentenced to hard labor for the county for not less than two nor more than seven years.”
~Alabama Code 4189
Northwest Enterprise, 1935
Northwest Enterprise, 1935
"... no license may be issued authorizing the marriage of a white person with a Negro, mulatto, Mongolian or member of the Malay race."
~California Civil Code Section 69, Stanford Law School, Robert Crown Law Library
Perez v. Sharp
"...they (CA Civil Codes 60 and 69) violate the equal protection of the laws clause of the United States Constitution by impairing the right of individuals to marry on the basis of race [32 Cal.2d 732] alone and by arbitrarily and unreasonably discriminating against certain racial groups."
~Phil S. Gibson Chief Justice California Supreme Court, Perez v. Sharp, 1948
Andrea Perez, a Mexican-American woman, and Sylvester Davis, an African-American man, living in California were arrested. When they applied for their marriage license in 1948, state laws classified people of Mexican ancestry as white because of their Spanish heritage, and marriage between white and non-white people was illegal. The court held a 4–3 majority that the state's ban on their marriage was unconstitutional.
McLaughlin v. Florida
In 1964, Dewey McLaughlin and Carrie Hoffman were found in violation of Florida statute section 798.05 which prohibited interracial cohabitation. The Florida Supreme Court ruled that Florida's ban on interracial cohabitation violated the 14th Amendment's equal protection clause.
Section 798.05 of florida statutes read: "Any negro man and white woman, or any white man and negro woman, who are not married to each other, who shall habitually live in and occupy in the nighttime the same room shall each be punished by imprisonment not exceeding twelve months, or by fine not exceeding five hundred dollars."
~McLaughlin v. Florida, 379 U.S. 184, 1964, Oyez
“It is readily apparent that § 798.05 treats the interracial couple made up of a white person and a Negro differently than it does any other couple.”
~Florida Justice Byron White, McLaughlin v. Florida, 379 U.S. 184, 1964, Oyez
Header photo: The Lovings, 1965, Grey Villet/Monroe Gallery of Photography