Schuster Institute for Investigative Journalism
at Brandeis University
i n v e s t i g a t i o n s

Photo Courtesy of Fanshen Cox Digiovanni

Photo: AP/File

Photo courtesy of the Mackay family
Freedom to Marry
RACE & JUSTICE PROJECT


Interracial marriage in the U.S., 50 Years after Loving v. Virginia
Part 1
June 12, 2017
Photo Courtesy of Fanshen Cox Digiovanni
Part 2
June 13, 2017

Part 3
June 14, 2017
Interactive Map from Loving Day
Accessible Data Table of Legal Map
Learn more about the Loving v. Virginia decision on LovingDay.org, an organization promoting the history of the landmark decision.
View more documents of the Loving v. Virginia case online from the Library of Virginia.
In Popular Media
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Starring Joel Edgarton and Ruth Negga, the 2016 feature film "Loving” dramatizes the emotional story of how Richard and Mildred Loving came to be able to live together in their hometown. (Negga was nominated for an Academy Award for her role, portraying Mildred Loving.)
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Featuring photographs of Richard and Mildred Loving and archival interviews with their lawyers, “The Loving Story,” a 2012 HBO documentary, outlines the story of the Loving's and how their case became a precedent-setting landmark decision.
How the categorization of race and intermarriage has changed in the United States over time
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“Intermarriage in the U.S. 50 Years After Loving v. Virginia,” Pew Research Center, May 18, 2017.
In 2017, “One-in-six newlyweds are married to someone of a different race or ethnicity,” reports Pew Research Center.
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“Intermarriage across the U.S. by metro area,” Pew Research Center, May 18, 2017. In 1967, three percent of newlyweds were interracial. In 2015, 17 percent of newlyweds in the US were intermarried and numbers in some large metro areas continue to push past 25 percent.
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“The Rise of Intermarriage,” Pew Research Center, 2012. Pew evaluates the trends in gender, region and socioeconomic status of intermarriage in the US.
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“Racebox.org” Examine race classification boxes on every U.S Census since 1790.
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“Interracial Table 1: Race of Wife by Race of Husband: 1960, 1970, 1980, 1991, and 1992,” U.S. Bureau of the Census, 1994.
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“Interracial Table 2: Race of Couples 1990,” U.S. Bureau of the Census, 1994.
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“Interracial Table 4: Race of Child by Race of Householder and Spouse or Partner 1990,” U.S. Bureau of the Census, 1994.
History of anti-miscegenation laws in the United States
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“Anti-miscegenation laws [by state],” Thomas Drake, University of Idaho. 30 states repealed their anti-miscegenation laws between 1948 to 1967. See when each law was overturned and what racial groups they applied to by state.
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“Anti-miscegenation Laws in the United States,” Jame R. Browning, Duke Bar Journal. Article comparing and contrasting anti-miscegenation laws in different states throughout the 20th century.

Dictionary.com

Historical Arguments
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“Miscegenation: The Courts and the Constitution,” Cyrus E. Phillips IV, California Law Review, 1966. Article arguing that anti-miscegenation laws should be overturned.
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A Reappraisal of the Constitutionality of Miscegenation Statutes,” Andrew D. Weinberger, Journal of the National Medical Association, 1959. May 1959 article discusses the constitutionality of anti-miscegenation laws, arguing that they are unconstitutional.
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“Statutory Prohibitions against Interracial Marriage,” Irving G. Tragen, California Law Review, 1944. Article discusses the statutes of California, as one of the 30 states that held anti-miscegenation laws in 1944.
Modern-day Relevance
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National Black Justice Coalition and New York County Lawyers Association amicus brief in gay marriage case (2005) Amicus brief comparing the interracial marriage ban to the same-sex marriage ban and arguments made against same-sex marriage to arguments against interracial marriage.
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“Eugenics, Race, and Marriage,” Facing History and Ourselves.
Identity
Intersectionality
*Intersectionality is the intersection of multiple identities, crucial to talk about when referring to Loving v. Virginia. For example, Mildred Loving is African American, Native American, and a Woman. Additionally, Richard and Mildred were both part of a lower class. All these identities intersect, and defined the Loving v Virginia case. The reason Richard and Mildred met each other was because of their social/economic status, and did not understand the severity of racism until they tried to make their marriage legal.
“Many years ago, I began to use the term "intersectionality" to deal with the fact that many of our social justice problems like racism and sexism are often overlapping, creating multiple levels of social injustice.” - Kimberle Crenshaw TEDWomen 2016
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“The Urgency of Intersectionality,” Kimberle Crenshaw, TEDWomen, 2016.
(embed Ted Talk video?) Kimberle Crenshae, a scholar of critical races theory and a civil rights advocate, discusses her term “intersectionality,” a phenomenon of overlapping exclusion that faces modern-day victims of prejudice.
“Socially marginalized people all over the world, were facing all kinds of dilemmas and challenges as a consequence of intersectionality, intersections of race and gender, of heterosexism, transphobia, xenophobia, ableism, all of these social dynamics come together and create challenges that are sometimes quite unique.” - Kimberle Crenshaw TEDWomen 2016
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“Mapping the Margins: Intersectionality Identity Politics, and Violence Against Women of Color,” Kimberle Crenshaw, University of California, 1993. Crenshaw, who coined the term “intersectionality,” writes about violence against women of color.
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“A House Divided: The Invisibility of the Multiracial Family,” Angela Onwuachi-Willig and Jacob Willig-Onwuachi, Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review, 2009.
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“Intersectionality and In-depth Interviews: Methodological Strategies for Analyzing Race, Class, and Gender,” Gloria Holguin Cuadraz and Lynet Uttal, Race, Gender & Class, 1999.
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“Intersectionality 101,” Southern Poverty Law Center, “Teaching Tolerance,” Youtube, May 16, 2016. Student-friendly educational video introducing the subject of intersectionality.
The narratives of “mixed” kids
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“One Drop of Love” A multimedia solo theater performance by Fanshen Cox DiGiovanni explores the historical intersections of race, class and gender.
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In 1998, Peggy McIntosh’s article “Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack,” popularized the concept of white privilege and male privilege.
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“Jeff’s Diary: From ‘Halfrican’ to ‘Mulatto History Month’,” Radio Diaries, tells the story of Jeff Rogers, the founder of Miatto History Month, and his story growing up as the child of a black father and white mother.
“The Mixed Experience Podcast” An audio and video podcast about the experiences of mixed race people hosted by New York Times best-selling writer Heidi Durrow.
Unconscious bias of race
Cracking the Codes: Unconscious Bias A clip from the documentary Cracking the Codes: The Systems of Racial Inequity explains how our society is subconsciously bias of people's race.
Cracking the Codes: A Trip to the Grocery Store
Follow a biracial woman's experience in a grocery store
Implicit Bias Test by Project Implicit
The following test is an Implicit Association Test, or IAT. It is designed to measure the strength of an individual’s implicit association between particular objects. This test measures one’s implicit association between specific objects and the faces of individuals of African or European origin. Try out the test yourself or view more IATs here. Project Implicit, a non-profit organization, focuses on the impact of implicit social cognition.