Loving vs. Virginia: A Documentary Novel of the Landmark Civil Rights Case

by Patricia Hruby Powell, Shadra Strickland (Illustrator)

From acclaimed author Patricia Hruby Powell comes the story of a landmark civil rights case, told in spare and gorgeous verse. In 1955, in Caroline County, Virginia, amidst segregation and prejudice, injustice and cruelty, two teenagers fell in love. Their life together broke the law, but their determination would change it. Richard and Mildred Loving were at the heart of a Supreme Court case that legalized marriage between races, and a story of the devoted couple who faced discrimination, fought it, and won.

Genres: Young Adult, Historical Fiction, Poetry, Historical, Audiobook, Romance, Fiction

260 pages, Hardcover

First published January 31, 2017

About the author

Patricia Hruby Powell is the author of Josephine: the Dazzling Life of Josephine Baker (Chronicle 2014), illustrated by Christian Robinson, (Sibert, CSK, Boston Globe Horn Book, Ragazzi International Honoree; Parent's Choice Gold, etc.) and Loving vs. Virginia (Chronicle 2017) illustrated by Shadra Strickland; Struttin' With Some Barbecue: Lil Hardin Armstrong Becomes the First Lady of Jazz (Charlesbridge 2018) winner of SMA Nonfiction for Youth. Forthcoming is: Lift as You Climb: The Story of Ella Baker (Simon & Schuster 2020); untitled Woman's Suffrage Project (Chronicle 2021)

Reviews

[Myrn🩶 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loving vs. Virginia is a wonderful nonfiction novel that reads more like a narrative but written in verse with two voices. I can't believe I've never heard of this landmark case that made interracial marriage legal! This short poetical book is written for YA readers but I recommend it to all. It will stir strong emotions for you as it did for me.

[Brandice · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a short, easy to read book regarding the landmark civil rights case of Mildred and Richard Loving vs. the state of Virginia.

Although the book is short, the subject is far from light. It pains me to think people had to endure this type of BS. It’s a shame and a tragedy that the Lovings had to fight for the right to be recognized as married and able to live together for NINE years - Almost a decade! Absolutely ridiculous. It’s also absolutely ridiculous (although I can’t say I’m surprised) that the state of Alabama (the last state to do so) only got rid of its anti-miscegenation law in the year 2000. Unreal.

This story, Loving vs. Virginia: A Documentary Novel is the Landmark Civil Rights Case is told in back and forth altering POVs between Millie and Richard Loving, with historical updates re: this case and other racial segregation issues dispersed throughout. The isolation, having to live far away from your families, attempting to shield your three young children from this insanity while trying to maintain a happy face, and trying not to lose hope about the case, had to have been utterly exhausting for the Lovings.

”Tell the Court I love my wife and it is just unfair that I can’t live with her in Virginia.”

Despite its infuriating and depressing subject, I am glad I read this.

[Jennifer ~ TarHeelReader · Rating 5 out of 5]

Listened to the audio of this important time in history. Highly recommended.

[Kathleen · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars Thanks to Library Thing and author Patricia Hruby Powell and CHRONICLE BOOKS for providing me with a hardcover copy of LOVING VS. VIRGINIA: A DOCUMENTARY NOVEL OF THE LANDMARK CIVIL RIGHTS CASE, which allowed me to read it and write my unbiased thoughts about it.
In addition to reading the beautiful hardcover edition of this novel, I also listened to the unabridged Dreamscape MP3 CD read by Adenrelet Ojo and MacLeod Andrews.
Two teenagers, Richard and Mildred, fell in love in 1955, in Caroline County, Virginia, USA, amidst segregation and prejudice, injustice and cruelty. They were not legally allowed to be married to each other in Caroline County, so their life together broke the law. But their determination would eventually change this law. Richard and Mildred Loving were at the heart of a Supreme Court case that legalized marriage between races. This is the story told in verse of that devoted couple with two young boys and a little girl who faced discrimination, were arrested twice and jailed once, fought discrimination for nine years and won.

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow, what an eye-opening and moving account of the Lovings' struggle to live together as a married couple. It was especially interesting for me (and even more heartbreaking) to read because the locations mentioned are close to home. This is intended for an older audience than my elementary readers, so teachers of older students-- don't miss this!

[Rachel Aranda · Rating 5 out of 5]

The reading of this story is absolutely AMAZING! Honestly, I've never been into a dual narrative like I have been with the reading by Adenrele Ojo and MacLeod Andrews. When they read together during the marriage ceremony of Richard and Mildred Loving... I got chills. I'm really hoping they read together again.

For those who don't know about this case, it's the one who made interracial marriage legal in the United States. This story takes us into the lives of Richard Loving and Mildred Jeter. They were friends as youths who eventually fell in love in 1955, in Caroline County, Virginia, USA. Their families agreed the two were meant to be together and they fit together as a couple. The big issue with their love story is that Mildred is Black and Native American while Richard is white. Their romance faced many issues amidst segregation and prejudice, injustice and cruelty, and invasion of privacy by Virginian law enforcement. They were not legally allowed to be married to each other in Caroline County, which is where their family and friends were, so they were forced to move to Washington DC to live a life together. Their love broke the law so they weren't able to be seen together in Virginia. Thanks to their determination to return to their beloved families, hometown, and state of Viriginia, they would eventually change the law that said they couldn't be seen as legally married. Richard and Mildred Loving were at the heart of a Supreme Court case that legalized marriage between races. This is the story told in verse of that devoted couple with two young boys and a little girl who faced discrimination, were arrested twice and jailed once, had their children seen as "mixed illegitimate bastards," and fought discrimination for nine years and unanimously won their freedom to return home as husband and wife.

I remember finding out about the Lovings when I was looking into major court rulings of the 20th century for a school project way back in the early 2000s. When I found out it was a love story, I knew I had to find out how a love story could lead to a Supreme Court ruling. Needless to say I was confused, mad, and inspired by their story. It also helped me decide then and there that I wasn't going to be with someone who wouldn't fight to be with me like Richard and Mildred did for each other. It's hard picturing all the cruelty and hardships this young family faced. I can only hope that they're smiling and holding hands while walking on soft grass together in heaven.

Overall, I'd say this story is 4.5 stars but I'm rounding to 5 because of the wonderful narrators and the importance of this case.

[♥ Sandi ❣ · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars

It took nine years to fight the establishment. A solid loving marriage, 3 children and a constant fight to be able to live in the state of their birth, along side family and friends. Having been arrested, twice, jailed once, banned from even visiting Virginia together as a couple, this miscegenate couple fought hard for the rights afforded to all men and took their case all the way to the Supreme Court for their justice. During this time of The Freedom Riders, lunch counter sit-ins and Governors protesting segregation by closing schools to prevent it, this one couple fought for their rights, fought for their love.
This book is beautifully covered in pictures pertinent to the blank verse it is written in. It is an easy read, a YA book, but tells of the hell this couple went through while fighting for their civil rights in the case Loving vs Virginia.

[Kathy MacMillan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received an Advance Reader's Copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Accessible, relatable, and compelling, this book makes an important piece of history come alive. The description “documentary novel” perfectly describes this book. The bulk of the story is told in verse from the alternating points of view of Mildred and Richard Loving, with historical photographs, documents, and quotes seamlessly woven in, placing the very personal struggle of the Lovings in its larger historical context. Loose drawings by Shadra Strickland, deliberately done in the style of visual journalism used in the 1950s, illustrate the verse portions of the story. Mildred and Richard’s romance unfolds from their childhood home of Central Point, Virginia, immersed in the sensory details of blue homespun napkins and pick-up softball games, along with the everyday experience of blunt racism. As the couple falls in love, marries, and moves to Washington, D.C. to avoid being arrested for the crime of interracial marriage, it becomes clear that they never set out to become activists or heroes – they just wanted to be with their families and raise their children in peace. The nonfiction elements are a perfect touch and beautifully integrated into the story, providing context without ever drawing focus from the effects of unjust laws on the lives of real people. The backmatter details the extensive research the author undertook, including interviews with many of the couple’s friends and relatives. In our current climate, this book is even more necessary.

[akacya ❦ · Rating 4 out of 5]

this book tells the story of the lovings, the interracial couple whose supreme court case led to the banishment of anti-interracial marriage laws. though the court case itself is not written about in much detail, this book does describe how the lovings met, fell in love, and eventually how they were run out of their home simply for being married. this book is told in verse and accompanied by photographs and illustrations giving readers more insight as to what was happening in the country at the time.

[Kim. E. · Rating 5 out of 5]

"In the name of the greatest people that have ever trod this earth,
I draw the line in the dust and toss the gauntlet before the
feet of tyranny, and I say segregation now, segregation tomorrow,
segregation forever."
- George Wallace, Governor of Alabama, 1959

I received an Advanced Readers Copy of "Loving vs. Virginia" from the publisher, Chronicle Books, written by Patricia Hruby Powell with illustration by Shadra Strickland and I'm grateful.

Described as a Documentary Novel and Young Adult Informational Fiction, Powell does an excellent job in describing this landmark case of anti-miscegenation (also known as banning interracial marriage) that ended up in the United States Supreme Court under Chief Justice Earl Warren.

This case has received more media attention recently due to a documentary as well as a Hollywood film. Despite this reminded awareness, I'm sure most young adults are not knowledgeable about Richard Loving and Mildred Jeter or the years they spent fighting in the courts for their simple plea: the right to live together as a married couple in a home in the country next to their families of origin. I think this book is the perfect avenue for learning about a situation they take for granted.

Written in verse that describes each, Richard and Millie, point of view during one of the worst eras of our history as a country, tells the story well enough without sounding as a textbook that could lose their attention. Even though Richard is white and had all the privileges he desired, Millie, who had mixed heritage lived in a time of separate "colored areas", such as watching movies from the balcony. Richard seems to take all this in stride until a certain event I'll refrain from describing here.
Millie writes:
"The moment they said
No, you can't go in,
he saw-
I know he really saw
what it is
to be colored"

The book does not just contain two person point of view solely. Spaced throughout are black and white photographs of events that put the case in time perspective such as lunch counter sit-ins, protests both for and against school segregation, the Freedom Riders, and March on Washington as well as remarks from each step of the court case. A timeline, credits for photographs, and sources are at the end for anyone who wants to conduct further research.

On a personal note, I think it's important to state that I live in a multicultural household and fight for social justice issues any way I can, be it through work on elections, providing donations to some organizations (including animal rights), and sending out information regularly on social media. What really hit me emotionally as I read this ARC was how much has changed yet still the same regarding racial justice in this country. Instead of fighting over marriage, we are fighting over voting rights and criminal justice. I'm sure when Lyndon Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act (with Martin Luther King, Jr. standing behind him with a smile), as well as the Civil Rights Act, they didn't envision that the same Supreme Court that allowed interracial marriage would not be gutting parts of the same act now. These situations bring the relevance of this story more important.

I would recommend this book to everyone I know once the final version is published.

[Kelly]

This verse/documentary novel explores the story of Loving vs. Virginia in a way that's accessible and engaging. The blank verse is the story of Richard and Millie falling in love and having children with one another in rural Virginia, where it was illegal for them to be married as a mixed-race couple. Throughout the book are well-designed pieces of legislation, of photographs, and of historical moments that give even more context to the fictionalized story of the real-life couple.

What made this really powerful is how relevant it still is today. The last anti-miscegenation law in the US was not off the books until 2000. And this story, told through the late 50s and 60s, was not that long ago; I had a real pause when, after Richard and Millie were informed they couldn't return to their home county for 25 years, that would be 1984...which was only 31 years ago. Although interracial marriage is now legal, the same sorts of racist legislation and racism more broadly (see: the police officer in the story) hasn't gone away.

I'll be curious how the finished book looks, since this one has a larger trim size to it than a standard novel. In some ways, that makes it more appealing, but seeing this is a novel, rather than non-fiction, it will be odd to fit into collections or stand out on the shelf as such. Will younger readers pick it up since it will look different? Will it get more attention because it does provide a real historical story in a way that's wildly accessible?

[K. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Trigger warnings: racism, police brutality, imprisonment.

I've been meaning to read this book for ages now, because it's a case I knew nothing about and I wanted to find out more about it. Basically, it's the story of an interracial couple who married in Washington DC in the late 1950s where interracial marriage was legal but who wanted to live in Virginia, where interracial marriage definitely wasn't legal. Their story and their legal battle went on for nearly a decade.

This book tells their story in verse with illustrations and historical documents, and while it's a very sparsely told story (I read the whole thing in under an hour), it definitely does a great job of showing that civil rights struggles happened in ways that wouldn't even occur to teens today. A difficult read at times, but one that was definitely worth it.

[Beth P · Rating 5 out of 5]

An incredible read for both audiences that are familiar with the Loving's case, and those that are not. Opening with Mildred and Richard as children, readers watch their love story develop and witness the initial acts of hatred toward their relationship. Photos, illustrations and other excerpts add depth. The use of two voices throughout the book conveys the unfaltering love Mildred and Richard share despite the obstacles. A powerful book that can be used to discuss the thoughts and laws about love in the past, as well as, where we stand today.

[Aliza · Rating 3 out of 5]

I bought a copy. Read it and wrote little notes in it to my boyfriend. Gave it to him for our one year anniversary.

[mad mags · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Tell the Court I love my wife"

(Full disclosure: I received a free copy of this book for review through Library Thing's Early Reviewers program, as well as an e-ARC through NetGalley. Trigger warning for racism and an allusion to rape.)

MILDRED
Richard once said,
"It could be worse, Bean.
If you was the white one
and I was the colored one,
people saw us together?
They'd lynch me.
We can do this."

RICHARD
After waiting another year -
more like fourteen months -
they lost that case.
Is that four now?
They called for another.
They lawyers sure are excited
for losing.

As its 50th anniversary approaches, the 1967 Supreme Court case Loving vs. Virginia is receiving some extra attention: from the recently released film starring Ruth Negga (forever my Annie Cresta!) and Joel Edgerton (titled simply Loving), to a mention on the ABC sitcom Blackish, and now a "documentary novel" written by Patricia Hruby Powell, with illustrations by Shadra Strickland.

For those unfamiliar with the case, Loving vs. Virginia struck down the state's anti-miscegenation statute (the Racial Integrity Act of 1924) - and, by extension, similar statutes that existed in twenty-five other states - which prohibited whites from marrying outside their race. Interestingly, no such restrictions existed for non-whites, which is part of what led to the law's downfall: The Lovings' lawyers argued that the emphasis on maintaining the racial purity of whites (but not nonwhites) presupposed the superiority of the "white race," in clear violation of the 14th Amendment.

In Loving vs. Virginia, Hruby Powell tells the story of Mildred and Richard's historic fight, from the genesis of their relationship to their victory in the Supreme Court on June 12, 1967 (a day that's now remembered as Loving Day). The couple grew up together in Central Point, Virginia; their rural neighborhood was home to people of all colors: black, white, Native American, and multiracial. (Mildred herself was light-skinned, with both African and Native American ancestry.) They socialized, shared potluck dinners, and helped each other with farm work. Despite the state's law against it, interracial relationships were not unheard of.

Millie and Richard started dating in 1955, and two years later they had their first child, Sidney Clay. When Mildred found herself pregnant for the second time, the couple decided to get married - in nearby Washington, D.C. Just five weeks later, they were arrested in the dead of night. Sheriff Garnett Brooks and two deputies stormed into the couple's bedroom in the Jeter house and demanded of Richard, "Who's that woman you're sleeping with?" When Mildred replied that she was his wife, Brooks shot back, "Not here, she ain't."

While Richard was released on bail the next day, they held Mildred for a week or more. (Sources seem to vary on this.) Though she was the only woman in a cell meant for many more, the conditions were substandard, and Millie's jailers threatened her, including with rape. After her release, the couple moved to D.C., where they stayed with Millie's cousin Alex and his wife Laura. They returned to Virginia in January, after baby Donald was born, where they received a one-year suspended sentence - as long as the couple never returned to the state together. For the next eight years, the Lovings found themselves shunted between Virginia and D.C., as they fought to return to their home and the case wound its way through the courts. A refrain you'll often hear repeated about them is that they never set out to make history; they just wanted to go home.

Told in verse, from Mildred and Richard's alternating perspectives, Loving vs. Virginia is a beautiful and heartbreaking book. As with any work of historical fiction, you wonder how much is grounded in truth, and which parts are the author's invention. According to the Acknowledgements, Hruby Powell spoke to the Lovings' family and friends - including Lewis and Otha Jeter, two of Millie's seven brothers - as well as neighbors who frequented the same hangout spots, so I think it's safe to assume that much of the narrative is firmly grounded in reality.

Though I was vaguely aware of the case, I learned a ton from Loving vs. Virginia, especially about the anti-miscegenation laws (which I had assumed banned all interracial marriage).

It can be all too easy to view historical events through a lens of removal or disconnect, but Hruby Powell deftly shows the impact they can have on those who live through them. Millie was very much a country girl, and her excommunication to (comparatively) dirty and crowded D.C. took a toll on her mental well-being. Meanwhile, Richard was forced to make a three hour round-trip commute to Central Point every day for work, eating up much of his time and earnings. For the better part of the decade, they lived in limbo, a state of uncertainty, anger, and hope, wishing nothing more than to be allowed back home, as a family.

She humanizes Mildred and Richard so well, in fact, that I found it especially difficult to reconcile the couple's six-year age difference: when they first met, Millie was eleven, while Richard was seventeen. They began courting when Millie was sixteen, and she first became pregnant at seventeen. (Again, accounts seem to differ, but in the context of this story, she was seventeen.) The back matter describes this as a story about "two teenagers" who fell in love, which is ... not quite right.

Intellectually I get that this was more acceptable back then; but emotionally, my heart still ached for seventeen-year-old Millie, unexpectedly pregnant and with no one to turn to for help. (The neighborhood midwife just so happened to be her boyfriend's mother!) I rooted for the Lovings, of course, because racism is bullshit. But I also rooted for Millie, because every girl has the right to a quality education, as well as the ability to plan their families.

The Lovings' story is peppered with contemporary information about the civil rights movement, to help put their struggle in context, to great effect. In this vein, I wish Hruby Powell had included a page about reproductive freedom. For example, it wasn't until 1965, in Griswold v. Connecticut, that the Supreme Court ruled it unconstitutional for the state to prohibit married couples from using contraception. I get that the main thrust of the book is civil rights vs. women's rights, but it feels odd to gloss over this detail, especially in a book that seems geared toward MG/YA readers. Teenage pregnancy at the expense of a high school education isn't something that has to happen nowadays, not when our access to contraception has grown in leaps and bounds. (Yet, as recent events have demonstrated, is still under attack.)

Likewise, before her death in 2008, Mildred voiced her support for same-sex marriage:

My generation was bitterly divided over something that should have been so clear and right. The majority believed that what the judge said, that it was God's plan to keep people apart, and that government should discriminate against people in love. But I have lived long enough now to see big changes. The older generation's fears and prejudices have given way, and today's young people realize that if someone loves someone they have a right to marry.

Surrounded as I am now by wonderful children and grandchildren, not a day goes by that I don't think of Richard and our love, our right to marry, and how much it meant to me to have that freedom to marry the person precious to me, even if others thought he was the "wrong kind of person" for me to marry. I believe all Americans, no matter their race, no matter their sex, no matter their sexual orientation, should have that same freedom to marry. Government has no business imposing some people’s religious beliefs over others. Especially if it denies people’s civil rights.

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.

I would have loved to have seen some mention of this in the "afterward," which is otherwise tragic as heck: just eight years after the ruling, Richard was killed by a drunk driver. (Mildred, who was also in the car, was blinded in one eye.)

Finally, a note on the format: Though I usually prefer ebooks to print books, Loving vs. Virginia is the rare exception. The hardcover is a feast for the eyes, handsome and thoughtfully designed.





Hruby Powell's prose is complemented wonderfully by Strickland's illustrations, done in the style of "visual journalism."





The book also includes historic, period photographs, for example, side-by-side images of all-white and colored schoolrooms to demonstrate the bald-faced lie of "separate but equal" education.



While there aren't many photos of the Lovings (none exist from their childhood), Strickland does a masterful job bringing them to life in pen and ink.



The result is a lovely and heartrending book that's needed now more than ever. ♥

http://www.easyvegan.info/2017/01/30/...

[Amanda Brenner · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loving Vs. Virginia is the Supreme Court case that legalized marriage between races.  In this book, we learn about Richard & Mildred Loving, the couple behind this infamous case.  Told in verse, Loving Vs. Virginia is very much the love story of Richard Loving, a white man, and Mildred, a biracial woman.   I was anticipating a little more historical content, but overall, this was a very well done YA book.  I must admit, I have never really read a book about interracial marriage before.  The challenges that the Lovings faced was heartbreaking to read about. 

I listened to the audiobook version, but I am waiting for a copy from my library to see the illustrations.

*I am definitely interested in reading a book that goes a little deeper into the history of interracial marriage, as well as challenges that interracial couples face in today's society.  If anyone has any recommendations, please let me know.

[Ashley Urquhart · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loving vs. Viriginia was the hallmark case that overturned years of laws that made interracial marriage illegal. The story of Milly Jeter and Richard Loving is told in verse from alternating perspectives and readers will be inspired by the courage and love shown by both narrators. Milly and Richard didn’t mean to change any laws, they just wanted to live as a married couple near their families in Virginia. Unfortunately, Milly was black and Richard was white and interracial marriages were illegal in the state of Virginia. They were forced to start their young family while living in D.C., but both were miserable there. Luckily, a young lawyer believed in their case and ended up taking it all the way to the Supreme Court where they won.

This book details a case from our not too distant history as Americans. Laws banning interracial marriage existed as late as 2000 in some places. While both Milly and Richard had passed away before the author had the chance to interview them, Powell was able to speak with several people who knew them personally. She takes their stories and creates beautiful poems out of them. At the same time, Powell also incorporates documents and quotes from the time scattered throughout the book that help the reader to establish where the Lovings fit in with the overall Civil Rights Movement. While readers may pick this book up because of the underlying “love story”, they may find themselves interested in learning more about the Civil Rights Movement and desegregation in general. While this book deals with some heavier themes, the free verse narrative is accessible to younger readers as well.

As a reader, I really loved this book. I loved the way the author made such an impactful topic accessible and interesting to younger readers. My husband and I are a third generation interracial couple in my family. After reading this book, I found out that my grandparents (a white man and a Hispanic woman with dark skin) got married in the 60s and actually lived in the Virginia/D.C. area at the same time that the Lovings did (before the ban on interracial marriage was overturned). I’m grateful that this book prompted me to learn a little more about my own family history and I believe that it might make other readers, teens especially, interested in learning more as well.

This book is especially timely with the new movie Loving coming out on November 4th. Teens who watch the movie may be interested in learning more about the people and the case of Loving vs. Virginia specifically. This book would be perfect for those who aren’t especially strong readers or who simply want to read a little bit more about the case without getting in too deep.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a great book for children to read alongside their parents. I especially recommend this book for parents and children who are in an interracial marriage. It tells the story of Richard and Mildred Loving, a white man and black woman, who challenged Virginia's anti-miscegenation laws that barred those of different races from marrying or intermixing. The story is written in poetic prose similar to Jacqueline Woodson's Brown Girl Dreaming, and it chronicles the story of how they met as children through their marriage and Supreme Court case. Loving v. Virginia is a monumental court case that has been widely cited as precedent for many civil rights laws, and this is a great look at the history of the case and interracial marriage in the United States. It goes a long way to normalize it.

[Brooke · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an excellent introduction to the Mildred & Richard Loving case, however I do think this would have been a lot stronger if it wasn't written in verse. It's difficult to convey powerful emotions & themes through that method & often leaves me underwhelmed. The prose is still beautiful, I just wish it wasn't in verse. The wonderful illustrations by Strickland are a lovely bonus; this feels to me it would be most suited for middle school, possibly freshman age. Overall recommended, especially for those beginning to learn about segregation.

[disco · Rating 4 out of 5]

The landmark civil rights case of Mildred and Richard Loving vs. the state of Virginia. Need I say more ?

[Richie Partington · Rating 5 out of 5]

Richie’s Picks: LOVING VS. VIRGINIA: A DOCUMENTARY NOVEL OF THE LANDMARK CIVIL RIGHTS CASE by Patricia Hruby Powell and Shadra Strickland, ill., Chronicle, February 2017, 260p., ISBN: 978-1-4521-2590-9

“I see your true colors
And that’s why I love you.”
--Cyndi Lauper

“Mr. Cohen, tell the Court I love my wife, and it is just unfair that I can’t live with her in Virginia.”
--Richard Loving to his ACLU attorney

Patricia Hruby Powell’s emotionally powerful verse novel LOVING VS. VIRGINIA is a satisfying true love story, in which equality and Constitutional rights triumph over prejudice and hate. This book left me with a hunger to learn more about the history of anti-miscegenation laws and other marriage-related statutes.

One of the many virtues of this wonderful “documentary novel” is the inclusion of a wealth of important factual matter as illustrations. These include such notable visuals as the text of the Fourteenth Amendment; the juxtaposition of two damning photos showing what “separate but equal” looked like in Virginia’s public schools; white supremacist quotes by George Wallace and Harry Byrd; the text of the actual Virginia anti-miscegenation statute; a photo from the 1960 lunch counter sit-ins; a quote from Reverend King’s 1963 Letter from Birmingham Jail, and an aerial photo of the 1963 March on Washington; a photo of LBJ signing the Civil Rights Act of 1964; and quotations from the Virginia jurist’s white supremacist-grounded opinion in the Loving case which was reversed by the unanimous opinion of the U.S. Supreme Court.

Another enlightening illustration is a map of the United States showing the states with anti-miscegenation laws in 1958, when the Lovings got married. (They married in Washington, D.C., where there were no such laws.)

According to the map, my state of California did not have such a statute in 1958. That made me wonder whether California had ever had such a law. It turns out that in 1948, California became the first state in the nation to strike down an anti-miscegenation law, when the state Supreme Court ruled 4-3 that a ban on interracial marriage violated the Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

I also wondered about the history of laws in Virginia regarding same-sex couples, and why Virginia seems more progressive these days in comparison to some other southern states. It was interesting to learn what’s happened in a state that comes across in this book as backward and racist when these two wonderful young people fell in love in the 1950s.

“Then blinding light right in
my eyes.
I’m ready to scream
but Richard
spooned behind me
must have woke up
and pulled me tight
into his body--
which stops the scream.

Then a cruel voice
right over me says,
‘Who’s that woman
you’re
sleeping with?’
I can’t see who’s speaking
what with the light in my
eyes.

He’s talking to Richard,
of course.
Richard says nothing--
not sure he’s
even truly awake.
He just pulls me
tighter still.

‘I’m his wife,’ I say.
It makes me feel brave.
I’m his wife.

Richard lifts onto
his elbow,
takes his arm away
from me
to shield
the light
from his eyes.

Richard points to the marriage certificate
framed on the wall
behind us.
Beam of light leaves our faces
to shine on the certificate--
so I can see it’s Sheriff Brooks
and two deputies--
but I already knew that.

‘Not here she ain’t,’
says the sheriff.
‘Come on, get dressed,
let’s go.

I scurry up the stairs,
pull on yesterday’s dress.
The whole house is awake--
Mama, Daddy, Otha, Lewis, Garnet--
no one says a word.
They don’t dare.

Mama watches me go off
with the white men.
Get in their car.

Go to jail.”

What a great story! Richard Loving, who was white, was a childhood friend of the older brothers of Mildred Jeter, who was Black. Over time, Mildred grew from being just a little sister at Richard’s friends’ house into an adolescent who Richard grew fond of and courted.

Mildred’s siblings were supportive of the couple’s courtship, and the family was there for her and Richard through the decade during which they were in and out of jail for the crime of falling in love with someone of a different skin tone. Unfortunately, a sheriff who is a poor excuse for a human being plays an important part in the story, illustrating the cruelty of “the Southern way of life.”

For years, the Lovings and their three children were forced to live over the border in Washington, DC, far from their families and Richard’s job. Finally they wrote to U.S. Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, seeking help. Kennedy referred them to the American Civil Liberties Union, where a young attorney spent years taking their case through the state and federal systems, all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.

At this moment, when the direction of the U.S Supreme Court hangs in the balance, LOVING VS. VIRGINIA is a powerful example of how the decisions of the High Court can personally affect millions of Americans.

Richie Partington, MLIS
Richie's Picks http://richiespicks.pbworks.com
https://www.facebook.com/richiespicks/
richiepartington@gmail.com

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

*4.5 stars
I am glad I read this. With it being written in the format that it was written in, I wanted a little more from it. I did love the artwork in this.

[Christina · Rating 5 out of 5]

I listened to the audiobook on my library Hoopla account, and though I missed so much of Shadra's work, I loved this book, and look forward to reading the print copy.

I saw the HBO documentary The Loving Story a few years ago, and was very moved by this unforgettable portrait of a white man, Richard Loving, and a black woman , Mildred "Millie", who loved each other and went to great lengths to get and remain married to each other in segregated Virginia. The documentary, as well as this novel, made me very emotional. The book was narrated in alternate voices. I was initially put off by Adenrele Ojo's breathy southern accent, but I adjusted. I have scoured the internet trying to find the male narrator who read Richard's voice to no avail. He was very convincing. This is a novel in verse, but you wouldn't get that impression from listening to the audiobook. The story is beautiful, fluid, and gives emotion, information, and depth. For more of this review and peek at the movie trailer click here

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't know why I've never heard the phrase "documentary novel" before. When I finished reading Loving vs. Virginia, I immediately looked it up and it turns out I'd read one previously (albeit a long time ago): Avi's Nothing But the Truth. Huh.

I liked this non-fiction example much better. The first two-thirds of the novel establishes historical context while depicting the relationship that develops between Mildred and Richard, a relationship that began when they were teens. It's a tender, sweet narrative that eventually includes the birth of their children, their marriage, their struggle to live exiled from their family and home state, and then the legal case that thrust them into the national spotlight.

The poems span from 1952-1967 and attempt to capture both Mildred and Richard's voices. I didn't love the poetry, but I can imagine its concrete imagery and accessibility -- as well as the novel's themes of friendship, family, and sacrifice -- would appeal to teen readers.

The illustrations are gentle, almost childlike (fitting, I think, since Mildred and Richard were just kids, really, when they met), and serve as foils to the photographs which, like the maps, excerpts from legal documents, event summaries, and quotes fill in the historical backdrop. I was particularly struck by the maps. It's one thing to know that interracial relationships were illegal in many states until 1967, it's another to see in exactly how many states that was true.

What the novel does most effectively is demonstrate how unjust laws dehumanize people, why court cases are always personal, and how long it takes for laws to change.

Often human behavior takes even longer.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5

This is a lovely, simple little book written in verse, but the importance of the story it reflects and the basic human rights it embodies, are monumental in scope. I am not a big consumer and student of supreme court cases but this delightful book made it a joy to learn about the dismantling of the anti-miscegenation laws still in effect in much of the country only a little over 50 years ago. It breaks my heart to hear the story of two people who obviously loved each other so much and yet were not only kept apart, but were even arrested for wanting to embrace their feelings for each other. Thinking of all the people in the past who must have suffered at the hands of these laws is so sad and the obvious modern day equivalent of this situation was also never far out of my conscious. The artwork was beautiful, the verse well done and the historical recreation of the Lovings voices seemed very authentic as well.

[ella ☆ any pronouns · Rating 4 out of 5]

I actually very much enjoyed this book. Written in verse with two different perspectives. I thought it did a really good job at showing us the differences in those two perspectives. There are also some illustrations throughout that I enjoyed as it helped paint the picture of the story better. I am into the whole historical fiction topic and I like verse & some illustrations, too, and the combination of the three worked. When you add in the multiple perspectives, too, it really worked for me. Would for sure recommend if you're into historical fiction. It is definitely up there with some of my favorite historical fiction reads.

[HannahBG · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nine years. Nearly a decade of living in exile, unable to freely live near your own family or even go home for holidays because of bigotry and hatefulness.

It boggles my mind to think this was not that long ago. People speak so fondly of the fifties, and yet, it was such an ugly time in this nation.

And oh, Alabama. How can one state be on the wrong side of history so often? It took nearly half a century after Loving vs. Virginia for Alabama to abolish its anti-miscegenation law.

I’m so thankful for Richard and Mildred Loving, as well as their young lawyers. Even then, it was the young people, freshly out of school and driven by passion and pursuit for social justice, making a difference.

It gives me hope for our current times.

[Sam · Rating 5 out of 5]

“We each loved each other and got married.
We are not marrying the state.
The law should allow a person to marry
anyone he wants.”

I have a lot of emotions and thoughts when it comes to subjects like this. But this book was lovely and very well done

[Glenda · Rating 5 out of 5]

On the cover of Loving vs. Virginia we read the words “Documentary Novel.” This hybrid genera speaks to the imagined conversations and personal accounts of Richard and Mildred Loving, whose Washington D.C. marriage in 1958 violated Virginia’s anti-miscegenation laws forbidding interracial marriage. By formatting the alternating accounts of Mildred and Richard as verse, and interspersing historical photography and documents into the text, the author emphasizes the value of imagined events based on real ones as a way to personalize and teach historical truths. This blending of genre is part of the genius of “Loving vs. Virginia” and why it’s an important account for use in high school classrooms. Moreover, the Lovings nine-year journey for justice illustrates both the long arc of history bending toward justice as well as the cruelty of waiting so long for justice. We find ourselves in a similar moment in 2020, and the author’s interspersing of police malfeasance throughout offers yet another discussion starter for examine historical narratives of police overreach. This is my second reading of “Loving vs. Virginia,” and I find it even more prescient now than upon its publication in 2017.

[Joanna · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed listening to this because I think it gave a great insight into a time that is not always explored. The transitioning years from slavery. How something has simple as wanting to build a family together with someone of a different race literally put you in jail.

Even though this book had a significant event to explore I felt that the characters were left in its shadows. They were only slightly memorable and therefore you only slightly felt for their particular situation. I felt more invested in the cause as oppose to their particular family and that’s why I think it missed being more than a 3 ⭐️ read for me.

It’s a short read so it’s worth giving a listen too.

Happy Reading

Jo