User:Rena225/sandbox

Early life and marriage
Mildred Jeter was the daughter of Musial (Byrd) Jeter and Theoliver "Jake" Jeter. She was born and raised in Caroline County, Virginia in a town called Central Point. Mildred attended Caroline County public school and was a part of St. Stephens Baptist Church from an early age. Mildred was as a quiet and humble woman. Mildred identified herself as Indian-Rappahannock, but was also reported as being of Cherokee, Portuguese, and of African American ancestry. Overall, she is often referred to as a mix of Native American and African American.

Richard Loving was the son of Lola (Allen) Loving a midwife and Twillie Loving. Richard's father worked for one of the wealthiest black men in the county for 25 years. Richard was also born and raised in Central Point, where he later became a construction worker. He was white and his grandfather, T. P. Farmer, fought for the Confederacy in the Civil War.

Caroline County adhered to strict Jim Crow segregation laws, but there was no strict separation of the races in Central Point; and it had been a visible mixed-race community since the 19th century. "There's just a few people that live in this community," Richard said. "A few white and a few colored. And as I grew up, and as they grew up, we all helped one another. It was all, as I say, mixed together to start with and just kept goin' that way." Richard's closest companions were Mildred's older brothers who shared his love of music and cars.

The couple met in 1950 when Mildred was 11 and Richard was 17. He was a family friend, and years later they began dating. In 1957 when Mildred was 18 she became pregnant with her first child Sidney Clay Jeter. They decided to marry in June 1958 and traveled to Washington, D.C. to do so. At the time, interracial marriage was banned in Virginia by the Racial Integrity Act of 1924.

After their marriage, the Lovings returned home to Central Point. About a month later officers who had received an anonymous tip raided their home, and charged the couple with "cohabiting as man and wife, against the peace and dignity of the Commonwealth." They pled guilty and were convicted by the Caroline County Circuit Court on January 6, 1959. The Judge sentenced them to a suspended one-year sentence as long as the couple left the state for 25 years. After their release the couple relocated to Washington, D.C.

In 1964, frustrated by their inability to travel together to visit their families in Virginia, and by social isolation and financial difficulties in Washington, they filed suit to vacate the judgment against them and allow them to return home.

Jim Crow in Virginia
After the civil war African Americans struggled to affirm their independence, many fled to the countryside or moved to urban areas. This mass migration of African American peoples made white landowners nervous. In 1865 lawmakers passed a series of laws known as the "black codes" Theses laws made misdemeanors such as petty theft into felonies, these laws were mainly designed to ensure the availability of black bodies for labor. Sharecropping was most prevalent in areas throughout Virginia that produced cash crops such as cotton, tobacco, and peanuts.

The Supreme Court's decision in the Plessy v. Fergusson case of 1896 upheld racial segregation under the separate but equal doctrine. Virginia's 1902 Constitution established poll taxes, literacy tests, and separate schools. Despite Virginia public schools already being racially segregated the Constitution of 1902 was the states first constitution that required it.

The civil rights movement of the 50's-70's was only one part of the lengthy and groundbreaking struggle for African American freedom. A massive resistance had formed in Virginia and the state was now in the national hot-seat. A lot of the landmark civil rights cases started in Virginia, such as Brown vs Board and ''Davis vs Prince Edward County. Johnson v Virginia resulted in the desegregation of juries and Loving v Virginia'' overturned laws in 17 sates that had outlawed interracial marriage.