Loving v. Virginia is a landmark civil rights case before the Supreme Court in which laws banning interracial marriage were struck down. The case occurred when Mildred Loving, a black woman, and Richard Loving, a white man, were sentenced to a year in prison in Virginia for marrying. According to state laws at the time, their marriage violated the anti-miscegenation law, known as the Racial Integrity Act of 1924. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an Original Essay This law required that a racial description of each person be noted at birth. It divided the whole of society into two categories: whites and coloreds. It defined race according to the “one drop rule,” meaning that if there was African or Native American ancestry in a person’s blood, they were to be considered a “colored” person. The law was struck down by the United States Supreme Court in Loving v. Virginia. Anti-miscegenation laws were not uncommon in the United States at this time; they had existed in some states since colonial times. During the Reconstruction era in 1865, the black codes of seven states in the lower South prohibited intermarriage, but new Republican legislatures in six of those states repealed these laws as restrictive. However, when the Democrats returned to power, the restrictions were reimposed. One of the biggest concerns of the 1920s was where to draw the line and difference between blacks and whites in society, especially in a society where white men had multiple children with enslaved black women. The context of the case interests me greatly because the case surfaced by pure chance. On July 11, 1958, a few hours after midnight, Richard Loving and Mildred Loving were awakened by the presence of three officers in their room. Apparently, an anonymous tip had been sent to the local police, and they expected to find the couple having sex, as interracial sex was illegal in Virginia. Keep in mind: this is just a sample. Get a custom paper now from our expert writers.Get a Custom Essay The police found the Lovings sleeping in their bed, while Mildred pointed to their marriage certificate on the wall. They were then told that although their union had taken place in the District of Columbia, it was not valid in the state of Virginia. The Lovings were charged under Section 20-58 of the Code of Virginia, which prohibited mixed-race couples from marrying out of state and then returning to the aforementioned state, and Section 20-59, which classified miscegenation as a crime punishable by prison time. sentence of one to five years. In early 1959, the Lovings pleaded guilty to "cohabitation as man and woman, contrary to the Commonwealth Peace and Dignity Act." They had two options: a year in prison or leave Virginia and not return together for 25 years. After this conviction, the couple moved to Washington, D.C...