2026 SESSION
ENROLLED
HOUSE RESOLUTION NO. 106
Commemorating the life and legacy of Mildred Delores Jeter Loving.
Agreed to by the House of Delegates, February 12, 2026
WHEREAS, Mildred Delores Jeter Loving, known for her role in the landmark Supreme Court of the United States case Loving v. Virginia , was a woman of quiet courage and profound dignity whose love transcended the unjust barriers of her time; and
WHEREAS, Mildred Loving was born in Caroline County on July 22, 1939, and grew up in the small community of Central Point, where she and future husband, Richard, were family friends and neighbors, living only a few miles apart; and
WHEREAS, Mildred and Richard Loving married on June 2, 1958, in Washington, D.C., not in their home of Caroline County, in order to evade Virginia's Racial Integrity Act of 1924, which criminalized interracial marriage; and
WHEREAS, on July 11, 1958, just a few weeks after Mildred and Richard Loving's marriage, local police raided their home in the middle of the night, tore the couple from their bed, and criminally charged them with violating the Racial Integrity Act; and
WHEREAS, Mildred and Richard Loving pleaded guilty and were sentenced to one year in prison, which was suspended on the condition that they leave the Commonwealth and not return together for 25 years; and
WHEREAS, Mildred Loving endured exile from her beloved Caroline County home for nearly a decade, separated from her family and community, yet never wavering in her conviction that her marriage was right and just; and