Richard Loving and Mildred Jeter were living a fulfilled and happy life in Virginia. They wanted to turn their relationship into the committed partnership of marriage, but in 1958 in Virginia, interracial marriage was illegal. Seventeen states declared marriage between people of two ethnic origins unacceptable in the U. S. at that time. Despite the fact that slavery had ended in the 19th century, racial segregation was still rampant in the South. 

Loving and Jeter had a solution to this conundrum. They got married in the District of Columbia, then returned to Virginia. However, the D.C. certificate of marriage was invalid in Virginia. They were imprisoned for "unlawful cohabitation." Since they wanted to remain married, they moved to D.C., and they had three kids: Donald, Peggy, and Sidney. Richard and Mildred enjoyed marriage, but urban life was too chaotic for them, and they longed for the quiet rural life that they had known before. 

In 1966, the couple was frustrated enough with the situation that they decided to use legal means to fight their case. In 1967, the case of Loving v. Virginia was brought to the Supreme Court. It was eventually decided that making marriage a crime due to racial ethnicity was unconstitutional. The Lovings were ecstatic to move back to Virginia, where they were legally able to live together and happily raise their family in the idyllic countryside.

The Case for Loving: the Fight for Interracial Marriage by Selina Alko, 2015

I like the hearts and music notes in the illustrations. I saw Selina and Sean at a children's literary salon, and when I found out that they wrote a picture book about interracial marriage, I was excited to read it!

• Selina Alko's web site
• Sean Qualls's web site
• Books about interracial marriage