On this day in history, Richard and Mildred Loving won their right to marry. Mildred Loving, a black woman, and Richard Loving, a white man, had been sentenced to a year in prison in Virginia for marrying each other, a violation of the state's anti-miscegenation statute, the Racial Integrity Act of 1924. Marriage between people classified as "white" and people classified as "coloured" had been prohibited up to that point.
In 1967, their case made history when, by unanimous decision, the Supreme Court determined the prohibition to be unconstitutional, overturning Pace v. Alabama (1883) and ending all race-based legal restrictions on marriage - at least in the United States.
In honour of their victory, on June 12th of every year we celebrate Loving Day.
The Loving Day project is organized and maintained by dedicated volunteers who work hard every day to encourage celebrations, plan events, provide resources, and make Loving Day a new tradition. The core team meets in New York City, and also collaborate with volunteers all over the globe.
On February 14th, 2012, H.B.O. released "The Loving Story", a documentary about Richard and Mildred Loving, and their life together.
Today is also Crowded Nest Awareness Day, National Jerky Day, and National Peanut Butter Cookie Day!
Here are some interesting things that happened on this day in history:
- The HBC granted an area of about 185 000 km² to Lord Selkirk for formation of a colony at Red River in 1811. His first settlers arrived in the summer of 1812. Despite tribulations the settlement grew into the first European colony in the North-West.
- Napoleon invaded Russia in 1812.
- A roof collapsed during a murder trial in France in 1885, killing 30.
- Niagara Falls, Ontario was incorporated as a city in 1903.
- CBC president Joseph-Alphonse Ouimet, under whose leadership the national television service was established from coast to coast and in both languages, was born in Montréal in 1908.
- Soldier Jean Allard, the first French Canadian to be appointed Chief of Defence staff, was born in Saint-Monique-de- Nicolet, Québec in 1913. Also in 1913, "Dachshund", an early animated cartoon by Pathe Freres, was released.
- The Canadian General Council of the Boy Scout Association incorporated in 1914.
- Harry Houdini freed himself from a straight jacket while suspended upside down, 40 feet (12 m) above ground in New York City in 1923.
- Al Capone was indicted on 5,000 counts of prohibition and perjury in 1931.
- Shooting began on Paramount Pictures' Dr. Cyclops in 1939, the first horror film photographed in three-strip Technicolor.
- Anne Frank received her diary as a birthday present in 1942.
- Bill Haley's "Rock Around the Clock" was released in 1954.
- "Make Me Laugh," a TV Game Show, last aired on ABC-TV in 1958, gaining syndication in 1979.
- Nelson Mandela was sentenced to life in prison in South Africa in 1964.
- Sonny & Cher made their 1st TV appearance with "American Bandstand" in 1965. Also in 1965, the Big Bang theory of creation of universe was supported by announcement of discovery of new celestial bodies know as blue galaxies.
- 17 present or past members of the RCMP were charged with a total of 44 offences following the Keable Report in 1981. The offences were connected to illegal operations conducted after the October Crisis.
- Also in 1981, "Raiders Of The Lost Ark" starring Harrison Ford premiered.
- The chemical compound NOTT-202, which is capable of selectively absorbing carbon dioxide, was created in 2012. Also in 2012, an Australian coroner's report finally ruled that a dingo was responsible for the death of a baby in 1980. And again in 2012, the World Health Organization concluded that diesel exhaust causes cancer.
Stay tuned for our next, "On This Day in History"!
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