Advancing the Dream: 8 notable Civil Rights victories

6. Loving v. Virginia

In 1967, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a unanimous decision in the case of Loving v. Virginia in which the high court ruled that state-level interracial marriage bans were unconstitutional.

The case stemmed from the 1958 conviction of Richard and Mildred Loving, an interracial couple who were found guilty of violating Virginia’s anti-miscegenation law. In all, the high court ruling struck down interracial marriage bans in 16 states.

“Loving v. Virginia is considered one of the most significant legal decisions of the civil rights era,” noted History.com. “By declaring Virginia’s anti-miscegenation law unconstitutional, the Supreme Court ended prohibitions on interracial marriage and dealt a major blow to segregation.”

“Despite the court’s decision, however, some states were slow to alter their laws. The last state to officially accept the ruling was Alabama, which only removed an anti-miscegenation statute from its state constitution in 2000.”