--- description: Richard and Mildred Loving never asked to be Civil Rights heroes. But when Virginia outlawed their marriage the couple fought back. And won. title: Loving v. Virginia: Photos of Reluctant Civil Rights Heroes image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6837fb915661a2b1/6987821006f2c1a21d334450/150304-loving-grey-villet-01.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Civil Rights](/tag/civil-rights/) ## Civil Rights Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Richard and Mildred Loving: Reluctant Civil Rights Heroes  by [Lily Rothman](/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Feb 13, 2012 3:55 PM CUT  © Estate of Grey Villet  by [Lily Rothman](/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Feb 13, 2012 3:55 PM CUT In March 1966, LIFE magazine published a feature under the quietly chilling headline, “The Crime of Being Married.” Illustrated with photographs by Grey Villet, the article told the story of [Richard and Mildred Loving](http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/14/arts/television/the-loving-story-an-hbo-documentary.html "undefined"), a married interracial couple battling Virginia’s anti-miscegenation statutes. Villet’s warm, intimate pictures revealed a close-knit family, including children and grandparents, living their lives in opposition to a patently unjust law — but also captured eloquent moments that suggested just how heavily the Loving’s defiance of that law weighed on the very private couple. The LIFE article and Villet’s images, read and viewed today, assume a poignancy and power perhaps unimagined by the magazine’s readers in 1966\. The couple, after all, was awaiting an appeal on a court ruling that had, in effect, banished them from their hometown. At the time, the Lovings were adamant (in their own unassuming way) that they had no interest in being cast as Civil Rights heroes. All they wanted was to live their lives and raise their children in peace. But decades later, we know what the people in Villet’s published photographs — a frowning Richard Loving; Mildred Loving, her eyes downcast — might have hoped and prayed for, but could never ultimately count on: namely, that a year later, on June 12, 1967, the U.S. Supreme Court finally and unanimously decided the case of [_Loving v. Virginia_](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loving%5Fv.%5FVirginia "undefined"), ruling against the state and finding _all_ anti-miscegenation laws across the country unconstitutional. Here, LIFE.com presents a gallery of Grey Villet’s photos of the Lovings, along with sections of the article (below) that appeared in the March 18, 1966, issue of LIFE: --- > “” --- [\[Visit GreyVillet.com to see more of the photographer’s work\]](http://www.greyvillet.com/ "undefined")  © Estate of Grey Villet  Mildred Loving greets her husband Richard on their front porch, King and Queen County, Virginia, April 1965. © Estate of Grey Villet  Richard and Mildred Loving laugh while watching television in their living room, King and Queen County, Virginia, April 1965. © Estate of Grey Villet  © Estate of Grey Villet  Richard and Mildred Loving sit in a car celebrating Richard's win in a race at Sumerduck Dragway, Sumerduck, Virginia, April 1965. © Estate of Grey Villet  © Estate of Grey Villet  © Estate of Grey Villet  Richard and Mildred Loving sit in their car outside a country store, Virginia, April 1965. © Estate of Grey Villet  Richard and Mildred Loving at Sumerduck Dragway, Sumerduck, Virginia, April 1965. Grey Villet/ courtesy HBO  Richard and Mildred Loving, Virginia, April 1965. © Estate of Grey Villet ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3731628/richard-and-mildred-loving-reluctant-civil-rights-heroes/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3731628/richard-and-mildred-loving-reluctant-civil-rights-heroes/"},"headline":"Richard and Mildred Loving: Reluctant Civil Rights Heroes","datePublished":"2012-02-13T15:55:25.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T05:05:14.987Z","description":"Richard and Mildred Loving never asked to be heroes of the Civil Rights movement. But when the state of Virginia deemed their interracial marriage illegal, the couple fought back. 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