I wanted to time this post to coincide with the International Center of Photography‘s exhibit of Grey Villet’s photos of The Loving family but I blew it. The exhibit closed earlier this week. But given the recent vote in North Carolina to ban gay marriage, sharing the story of the Loving family became more relevant than ever.

“Forty-five years ago, sixteen states still prohibited interracial marriage. Then, in 1967, the U.S. Supreme Court considered the case of Richard Perry Loving, a white man, and his wife, Mildred Loving, a woman of African American and Native American descent, who had been arrested for miscegenation nine years earlier in Virginia. The Lovings were not active in the Civil Rights movement but their tenacious legal battle to justify their marriage changed history when the Supreme Court unanimously declared Virginia’s anti-miscegenation law—and all race-based marriage bans—unconstitutional. LIFE magazine photographer Grey Villet’s intimate images were uncovered by director Nancy Buirski during the making of The Loving Story…” (source)

Although the ICP exhibit in now closed, its related documentary film is still available on HBO GO. While watching it I found myself wondering what I would have done in a similar situation. My husband and I are not an exact match either (age and religious differences). He tells me I give up too easily and sometimes he’s right.

How far would you go to fight for something you believe in? How far would you go to fight for love?