Assignment 2: The Statutes- Pace v. Alabama & Loving v. Virginia
Ashlee R. Hall
PAD 525: Constitution & Administrative Law
Dr. Lee
January 29, 2012
Was there ever a period in history where interracial marriages and sex among people of different races was considered illegal? As absurd as this idea sounds, the answer is yes. Astonishingly, less than 40 years ago marrying someone of a different race was considered illegal. Black people could not be with white people- it just couldn’t happen. These statutes date back to colonial times, around the 1600s, which at this time helped to maintain the racial caste system and expand slavery. Two particular landmark cases convey the importance of Anti-Miscegenation Statutes
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In November 1881, the plaintiff in error, Tony Pace, a negro man, and Mary J. Cox, a white woman, were indicted under section 4189, in a circuit court of Alabama, for living together in a state of adultery or fornication, and were tried, convicted, and sentenced, each to two years of imprisonment in the state penitentiary (http://laws.findlaw.com/us/106/583.html). On appeal to the Supreme Court of the state the judgment was affirmed, Pace brought the case here on writ of error, insisting that the act under which he was indicted and convicted is in conflict with the concluding clause of the first section of the Fourteenth Amendment of the Constitution, which declares that no state shall ‘deny to any person the equal protection of the laws’ [106 U.S. 583, 584]. Loving v. Virginia originates from the Supreme Court of Appeals of Virginia in 1967, very many years after Pace v. Alabama. Once again, Anti-Miscegenation Statutes come back into the big picture. This case is landmark in the sense that it presents a constitutional question never presented in the courts in history: whether a statutory scheme adopted by the State of Virginia to prevent marriages between persons solely on the basis of racial classifications violates the Equal Protection and Due Process Clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment. In June of 1958 two residents of Virginia, Mildred Jeter, a Negro woman, and Richard Loving, a white man, were married in the District of Columbia pursuant to its laws
On July 11, 1958 a couple of hours after midnight, Richard Loving a white man and Mildred Loving an African American woman were awakened to the presence of three officers in their bedroom. One of the three officers demanded from Richard to identify the woman next to him. Mildred, full of fear, told the officers that she was his wife, while Richard pointed to the marriage license on the wall. The couple was then charged and later found guilty in violation of the state's anti-miscegenation statute.
Virginia do all this, but it also had some many unforeseen impacts in the future, as well. For example, similar anti-miscegenation laws in about 15 other states were eventually overturned like Virginia’s marriage ban. In the case Goodridge v. Department of Public Health in the November of 2003, a similar case to Loving v. Virginia, the restrictions on marriage were argued yet again. However, instead of interracial marriage being the problem, it was same-sex partners who were unable to wed. Like the case for the Lovings, the Supreme Court eventually ruled against the ban on members of the LGBTQ community marrying, as it was also deemed
Before this case, a number of states had anti-miscegenation statues in place, criminalizing love in the name of racism. This case brought an end to the acceptance of scientific racism in the realm of marriage in that showed such legislation not as sound or logical but as hateful and unconstitutional. Loving’s legacy is strong even today, as it played a pivotal role in the groundbreaking same sex marriage case, Obergefell V. Hoges, paving away for the legalization of gay marriage. Without this case and the intervention of the federal government, states could have very well continued their practice of anti-miscegenation policies. The atrocities committed upon the Lovings and the millions of couples affected by such hateful policies are an embarrassment to our nation’s history. This case acted as a federal resolve to past and future Americans fighting for the right to love. Loving V. Virginia led the nation away from its dark past and towards a more equal future, filled not with “scientific” defenses for racism but with scientific defenses against
Facts of the case: this was a landmark civil rights case that overturned laws that prohibited interracial marriage. The case involved a black woman named Mildred Loving and a white man Richard Loving, who was sentenced to prison in the state of Virginia for getting married. It was a crime because the marriage of the two was a violation of the state’s anti-miscegenation law, which was called the Racial Integrity Act of 1924. The couple got married in Washington, DC and upon their return they were indicted for unlawful cohabitation and placed in jail. Mildred Loving wrote a letter to the Attorney General; who was Robert F. Kennedy for assistance and in return she was referred to the ACLU who represented the couple in the case. The Supreme Court governed that Virginia’s bans on interracial marriages were considered unconstitutional. The court found that the anti-miscegenation laws did not infringe on the Equal Protection Clause
Freedom and civil rights have always been a thorn in America history for a long time ago. Racial unfairness and humanity deprivation was what most colored American people suffered most back in the day. Although the government aimed and worked for equality among every citizen, there is no point to deny that it has failed countless time in the past. However, just because the government failed to acknowledge the rights of colored citizens doesn’t mean that it can stay that way forever and that exactly what the Supreme Court did in the case of Loving V Virginia.
Hardwick, decided in 1986. It was overturned in 2003, which upheld 5-4 decisions, it was for the activity of oral and anal sex in private between adults, and it was applied to homosexuals. Lawrence v. Texas was decided in 2003. This was same-sex sexual activity legal, in 13 states and in other parts of the United States. It was 5 justice majorities, which also overturned the same case of Bowers v. Hardwick and did not find a constitutional protection of sexual privacy. DeShaney v. Winnebago Country Department of Social Services, was decided 1989 by the Supreme Court. Which basically held that it has a failure to prevent child abuse by a parent does not violate the child’s right, the liberty of following the 14th amendment. Loving v. Virginia, decided in 1967, and invalidated laws prohibiting interracial marriage. Two couples were sentenced to jail for a year, because they had married each other, a white man and black women. Their marriage violated the state’s anti-miscegenation, which prohibited people from marrying each other, especially if they were from a different race. The Supreme Court decision was unanimous, which determined that this prohibition was unconstitutional. Therefore, it was an ending all race legal marriage in the United
Mildred Loving was born on July 22, 1939 in Central Point, Virginia. She was African-American and a Native American descent who married a white man named Richard Loving and had three kids. Mildred Loving and her husband were both activists and both defeated Virginia’s ban on interracial marriage in 1967. The couple met in high school, started dating, and once Mildred became pregnant at age 18, they decided to get married. The couple were not aloud to get married in their home state, because of the Virginia Racial Integrity Act of 1924, so they drove to Washington D.C and got married there. A few weeks later when they returned, two sheriffs showed up at their house and told them they had violated the law of the Virginia Racial Integrity Act. The act prohibited
As the Civil Rights Movement continued to progress, the following major change in the nation that was implemented was through the Supreme Court case Loving v Illinois of 1967. The argument behind this critical case was that Richard and Mildred Loving, Virginia residents, were found breaking the law for making the choice to get married in Washington, D.C in 1958 rather than in their home state, Virginia, in order to avoid the prejudice restriction of interracial marriage. At the time Virginia, along with sixteen other southern states, enforced an anti-miscegenation law that banned marriage between white and black citizens (Skelton). When the couple returned to Virginia, police officers raided their home and found evidence of their marriage
In What Comes Naturally: Miscegenation Law and the Making of Race in America, Peggy Pascoe examines the history of miscegenation and how it laid the foundation of white supremacy in the United States. While visible forms of white supremacy such as segregation helped mask the importance of miscegenation laws, Pascoe argues that miscegenation laws was a national movement tied inseparably to gender and sexuality that went beyond the Black/White dynamic, which courts and bureaucracies of local marriage officials used to produce race in America. Pascoe goes on to argue that the core of miscegenation laws reached beyond the realm of romance as courts began to condemn the respectability of interracial relationships by equating them with illicit sex rather than marriage. Thus, this idea of unrespectable, unnatural, and immoral relationships became women into the fabric of the American society.
Richard and Mildred Loving were prosecuted on charges of violating the Virginia state’s ban on interracial marriages, the 1924 Racial Integrity Act. The Loving’s violated Virginia law when the couple got married in Washington D.C., June 1958. The couple returns to their home in Central Point, Virginia. In the early morning hours of July 11, 1958, the Loving’s were awakened by local county sheriff and deputies, acting on an anonymous tip, burst into their bedroom. “Who is this woman you’re sleeping with?” Mrs. Loving answered “I’m his wife.” Richard Loving pointed to the marriage certificate on the wall. The sheriff responded, “That’s no good here.” In the initial proceedings presiding Judge Leon M. Bazile, is credit with saying
Racism is the belief that one racial group is superior than the other and with racism comes stereotyping and discrimination. In the past White people felt that Black people was beneath them instead of treating us like human beings we were treated like a piece of property. People are discriminated against for different reason such as gender, financial status and race. At one-time interracial marriage was illegal however the federal courts overruled that in the Loving v, Virginia case in 1967. Multiracial people identify with two or more races, they are currently the fastest growing demographic group in the United States (Astrea Greig, 2018) and they face several problems for instance not being able to identify themselves as multiracial, they have to choose a race and at times they are rejected in the video there was a girl who identify herself as Black however is said the Black girls at school gave her the most problems and she always had to fight to depend herself .
In America, we are taught that all men are created equal, and that you cannot discriminate against people based on their race, religion, gender, or sexual orientation. I have come to find that these laws are only in place, because we needed a means to condemn people for discriminating against others, verses this being an inherent core value of American culture. Although the fight for equality in America has been battled by many demographics, one story resonates with me on a personal level is that of Loving vs Virginia.
Peggy Pascoe’s “What Comes Naturally: Miscegenation Law and the Making of Race in America,” published in 2012, is a historical and legal analysis that emphasizes the impact of racial segregation and desegregation in our society. The book primarily focuses on the roles of race and gender in these extremely significant legal happenings, though other important talking points are acknowledged as well. The main narrative of racial implication is the underlying theme in Pascoe’s writing. Pascoe presents the hard facts and inevitable truth about miscegenation laws in the United States during a time where society was torn on these very trying issues. Comparing the more modern laws to those established in the days of white and native American marriage issues, Pascoe presents the argument that these laws were established and maintained in order to preserve White supremacy and the patriarchal society it thrived in. These laws allowed for white men to thrive socially and economically while minority- and female-held positions in society became scarce. Pascoe clearly feels very strongly on these legal and historical matters, which led her to write such a bold book. Written from the point of view of an outsider looking in, Pascoe’s main point was to educate the reader of the significance of miscegenation laws in the United States. This book functions like a historical analysis, and was published posthumously. “What Comes Naturally” is targeted towards
Society would be different today if the Loving v. Virginia case didn’t occur in 1967 (Loving v. Virginia:the case over interracial Marriage ). Richard Loving and Mildred Jeter were a couple of different races. They wished to get married as Richard was Caucasian and Mildred was African American. Their want to change America impacted the opinions of Americans nation-wide. They faced many troubles and changed the United States for the greater good.
-In 1967 in the Loving v. Virginia case, the US Supreme Court struck down all laws prohibiting interracial marriages.