In 1958, a Virginia couple was madly in love and decided to marry but because she was black and he was white, they were forced to travel to Washington DC in order to legally exchange vows. Once married, Mildred and Richard Loving returned to their home in Virginia to live happily ever after. But that was illegal. They were eventually banished from the state of Virginia until their case was heard before the United State Supreme Court in 1967. I wish I was making this stuff up. Today we celebrate their honor with Loving Day quotes from the actual court case decades ago, including a part of Mildred Loving’s statement years later. These inspirational love quotes bring me so much gratitude that we are able to live happily as an interracial family.
Interracial Dating Quotes
There are some wonderful interracial Loving quotes from the Loving v Virginia court decision. Here is our favorite.
“Under our Constitution, the freedom to marry, or not marry, a person of another race resides within the individual and cannot be infringed on by the State.” – Chief Justice Earl Warren
“Marriage is one of the ‘basic civil rights of man’, fundamental to our very existence and survival. …Under our Constitution, the freedom to marry, or not marry, a person of another race resides with the individual and cannot be infringed by the State. These convictions must be reversed.”
“This case presents a constitutional question never addressed by this Court: 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. For reasons which seem to us to reflect the central meaning of those constitutional commands, we conclude that these statutes cannot stand.”
Related: Best Marriage Poems by Maya Angelou
Interracial Loving
Loving Day Quotes
In addition to celebrating our favorite Loving Movie Quotes, I want to share a book by the same name written by a biracial author named Mat Johnson. “Loving Day” examines biracial identity with humor and wit. It’s a brave memoir of his experience as a half black/half white biracial man mixed with the modern problems our kid’s experience. His literary quotes about love speak to the unique experience of interracial relationships and biracial identity. So I thought it would be great to include them in this roundup! If you read it, let me know your thoughts!
Loving Day by Mat Johnson
“Mat Johnson’s unrelenting examination of blackness, whiteness and everything in between is handled with ruthless candor and riotous humor.” – Los Angeles Times
Literary Love Quotes
“A man’s daughter is his heart. Just with feet, walking out in the world.” – Mat Johnson, Loving Day
“People look at interracial couples through their own, distorting racial lens. It doesn’t matter what form they take.” – Mat Johnson, Loving Day
“Forgiveness comes later in life, after you’ve created enough disasters of your own.” – Mat Johnson, Loving Day
“She loves everyone else here enough that she is willing to let them see all of who she is in this moment.” – Mat Johnson, Loving Day
“People aren’t social, they’re tribal. Race doesn’t exist, but tribes are fucking real.” – Mat Johnson, Loving Day
Related: 50+ Inspirational Love Quotes
Quotes on Interracial Love
“Love takes off masks that we fear we cannot live without and know we cannot live within.” – James Baldwin
“Love recognizes no barriers. It jumps hurdles, leaps fences, penetrates walls to arrive at its destination full of hope.” – Maya Angelou
Related: Maya Angelou Love Poems for Weddings
“Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it.” – Rumi
“Lots of people want to ride with you in the limo, but what you want is someone who will take the bus with you when the limo breaks down.” – Oprah Winfrey
“Love is an untamed force. When we try to control it, it destroys us. When we try to imprison it, it enslaves us. When we try to understand it, it leaves us feeling lost and confused.” – Paulo Coelho
“I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too great a burden to bear.” – Martin Luther King Jr.
Related: 30+ Best MLK Quotes for Kids
“When you are dealing with humanity as a family there’s no question of integration or intermarriage. It’s just one human being marrying another human being or one human being living around and with another human being.” – Malcom X
“Intermarriage is one of the most provocative words in the English language” – Clotye Murdock Larsson, Marriage Across the Color Line
“Love is blind despite the world’s attempt to give it eyes.” – Matshona Dhliwayo
“Anytime you have sex with someone of a different race, think about that for a moment. Because nothing feels better than orgasming while thinking about all the progress we’ve made in civil rights in this country.” – Aziz Ansari
“I think it’s something that needs to be said – that there are interracial marriages out there, and the couples live happy lives, and there’s nothing wrong with it.” – Tia Mowry
“This is not a true problem, since individuals marry, not races.” – Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Anonymous
June 10, 2011 at 10:52 pmAwww that was so sweet..made me smile:) I love that picture..your gorgeous
Nicc
Emma Kay
June 10, 2011 at 9:57 pmHappy Loving Day Vanessa!!! Even if I wasn’t half of an inter-racial marriage, this would have still struck a chord. In fact I do remember being in high school learning all about the Lovings, and Rosa Parks etc and feeling it so very deep, unaware that that really sexy and dark spunk I loved to check out in English class would one day cry when I tell him for the first time that I love him {don’t tell him I told you} 😉 I think I’m going to have to start making Loving Day a permanent celebration in our family. 😀
Emma Kay
June 10, 2011 at 10:16 pmP.S. Gorgeous photo. It’s absolutely no wonder you two have such a beautiful child 😀
Baby Making Mama
June 12, 2011 at 5:36 pmHappy Loving Day! thanks again for telling me about this!
Weather Anchor Mama
June 13, 2011 at 1:50 amA big thanks to you for bringing this to my attention! My daughter was actually baptized today (Loving Day). What a coincident!!! She is the product of an interracial marriage! I’m black and my hubby is white. As I sit down to write by blog, I thought about my approach and now I have just the right angle! Thanks again!!
De Su Mama
June 13, 2011 at 2:57 amYou are so welcome, Ladies. It is a beautiful and wonderful cause, and I am honored to have brought a bit of attention to it.
The Mod Homemaker
June 13, 2011 at 3:13 amI had no clue! Thanks for sharing!
www.JusticeJonesie.com
June 10, 2012 at 4:59 pmI remember reading this case in law school and it was one of those cases that I remember being so intrigued by. I had no idea there was a Loving Day. Thanks for sharing, this is a great story!
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Diedre
February 2, 2016 at 10:13 amI had no idea this day existed! The hubby and I will have to celebrate. Thanks for sharing! I may have to cover this on my blog when we celebrate!