Just 45 years ago, 16 states deemed marriages between two people of different races illegal.
But in 1967, the U.S. Supreme Court considered the case of Richard Perry Loving, who was white, and his wife, Mildred Loving, of African American and Native American descent.
The case changed history - and was captured on film by LIFE photographer Grey Villet, whose black-and-white photographs are now set to go on display at the International Center of Photography.
Twenty images show the tenderness and family support enjoyed by Mildred and Richard and their three children, Peggy, Sidney and Donald.
The children, unaware of the struggles their parents face, are captured by Villet as blissfully happy as they play in the fields near their Virginia home or share secrets with their parents on the couch.
Their parents, caught sharing a kiss on their front porch, appear more worry-stricken.
And it is no wonder - eight years prior, the pair had married in the District of Columbia to evade the Racial Integrity Act of 1924, which banned any white person marrying any non-white person.
But when they returned to Virginia, police stormed into their room in the middle of the night and they were arrested.
The pair were found guilty of miscegenation in 1959 and were each sentenced to one year in prison, suspended for 25 years if they left Virginia.
They moved back to the District of Columbia, where they began the long legal battle to erase their criminal records - and justify their relationship.
Following vocal support from the Presbyterian and Roman Catholic churches, the Lovings won the fight - with the Supreme Court branding Virginia’s anti-miscegenation law unconstitutional in 1967.
It wrote in its decision: ‘Marriage is one of the basic civil rights of man, fundamental to our very existence and survival.
‘To deny this fundamental freedom on so unsupportable a basis as the racial classifications embodied in these statutes, classifications so directly subversive of the principle of equality at the heart of the Fourteenth Amendment, is surely to deprive all the State’s citizens of liberty without due process of law.’ [Read more]
this. because i’m a product of interracial marriage. and if this case didn’t happen, I wouldn’t be here, or at least, my grandparents wouldn’t be allowed here in Florida…
(Source: blackndns, via melonberri)

(Source: leilockheart)

This comment turned my whole day around. How did he know I needed this? Thank you honeyboy. (Taken with instagram)
This is incredible. He brought out the magic in you all. What a blessing.“Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door”
About a month or so ago, a group of us HitRECorders got together to record an album for Niko. We called this album “The Honey Sessions”, and it comprised of his favourite songs covered by various HitRECord artists.
Niko’s favourite song, it transpired, is “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door”. So we all teamed up and recorded our stems together, singing Niko’s favourite song from around the globe. Matt [The Morning Hollows] mixed it all together, and above you can listen to what we sent to him.
This song gets harder and harder to listen to. But I am comforted by the fact that in the end, Niko knew how much the community loved him, and we were all brought together by love and a sense of family. This song is just an example of that care and love.
<3
<3
forever grateful to have been part of this beautiful collaboration.
Please hold while we process your request for admission into the afterlife… Congratulations! Your request has been approved. We hope you’ve enjoyed your stay here on Earth. Goodbye.
A little something I wrote for @wirrow ‘s The End collab. I received a few comments saying that the first line could stand on its own and I agree. I would love to see more interpretations. I also decided to add this to the Tiny Stories 2 collab. Remix away my friends!
(Source: hitrecord.org)

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Mmmmm

Reviewing and revising the final Little Red Riding Hood proofs at The Made Shop today. It’s going to be so wicked!
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