‘She is Negro, he is white, and they are married. This puts them in a kind of legal purgatory in their home state of Virginia.’LIFE MAGAZINE, March 18, 1966 THE HEADLINE IN THE MARCH 18, 1966, issue of LIFE magazine described it simply as “The Crime of Being Married.” Under those words, two photos: Mildred Loving, then 26, eyes downcast, and her husband Richard, 32, lips pressed tightly together. Both look as if they have received bad news. They had.
“She is Negro, he is white, and they are married. This puts them in a kind of legal purgatory in their home state of Virginia, which specifically forbids interracial marriage,” the magazine explained. “Last week Mildred and Richard Loving lost one more round in a seven-year legal battle, when the…