Answer:
It was not until 1967 that black-white marriage was legalized in the United States as a result of the case of Loving v. Virginia. For many people, that couple's union represented a violation of social norms because they married outside their group.
Step-by-step explanation:
Loving v. Virginia was a unanimous decision by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1967 that the Racial Integrity Act of 1924 was unconstitutional. Loving v. Virginia overturned an earlier Supreme Court ruling of 1883 in Pace v. Alabama. Despite the decision, similar laws were still in force in several states for a long time, although they were no longer complied with after the verdict. In 2000, Alabama repealed the law banning interracial marriage as the last state.
Regarding the plaintiffs, Mildred Loving had an African American and Rappahannock Indian background, while Richard Perry Loving was white. They had married in Washington in June 1958 and returned home to Virginia. Virginia state law prohibited the return to Virginia of marriages between whites and non-whites, as well as interracial marriages outside the state. Police broke into the couple’s home and found them sleeping. The marriage certificate hung on the wall became a key piece of evidence.
The offense was punishable by a minimum of one year and a maximum of five years in prison. In 1959, a Virginia state court sentenced the Loving to one year in prison, but enforcement of the sentence was suspended for twenty-five years on the condition that the couple move out of Virginia. The Loving moved to the capital, Washington, but after wanting to return to Virginia, filed a lawsuit against the state in 1963, which ended up in the U.S. Supreme Court.
On June 12, 1967, the Supreme Court unanimously ruled that the law of the State of Virginia was inconsistent in this respect with the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution.