loving

While I was at ICP paying tribute to CCC, I also saw Grey Villet's famous LIFE story (more pix here) about the Lovings, a couple who married in DC because "miscegenation" was verboten in Virginia, their home state. They were arrested in bed in the middle of the night and proceeded to fight their case all the way to the Supreme Court. They won in 1967 and spent the rest of their married lives together. Forty years later in 2007, shortly before she died, Mildred wrote, "I am still not a political person, but I am proud that Richard's and my name is on a court case that can help reinforce the love, the commitment, the fairness, and the family that so many people, black or white, young or old, gay or straight, seek in life. I support the freedom to marry for all. That’s what Loving, and loving, are all about."
   Oddly, I am at work on a LIFE-style picture story for ex-LIFE editors also about racism, activism and art. Subject: collage artist Romare Bearden.