Before the Lovings, another interracial couple fought to marry

Retropod

The Washington Post

History, Kids & Family, Education For Kids

4.5 • 670 Ratings

🗓️ 14 February 2019

⏱️ 4 minutes

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Summary

The Kinneys married in Washington, D.C., in 1874. Then, they were arrested back home in Virginia for violating the state’s laws. They fought the ruling in higher and higher courts but never won the right to stay married in their home state.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey, history lovers. I'm Mike Rosenwald with Retropod, a show about the past, rediscovered.
0:07.2	On June 12, 1967, the United States Supreme Court ruled unanimously that Virginia's laws against
0:15.2	interracial marriages violated the Constitution. The case was Loving v. Virginia and the ruling overturned laws against interracial marriages
0:24.8	in 16 states.
0:27.1	It was a landmark moment for the country and for Mildred and Richard Loving.
0:32.9	Their love story has been told for decades, but history, even when it reveals old truths, can also sometimes conceal.
0:41.8	Like in the case of the Lovings, they weren't the first interracial couple to fight Virginia's
0:47.1	laws against mixed marriages.
0:52.6	According to the Library of Congress, Virginia approved its first law banning marriages between people of different races on April 3, 1691.
1:03.8	The act aimed to prevent what it called abominable mixture.
1:09.1	In 1849, some 150 years later, Virginia declared all marriages between black
1:15.1	people and white people, quote, absolutely void. And the punishments for trying kept getting
1:22.6	more harsh. Sentences increased from six months to two years to five years in prison.
1:29.3	There were steep fines, including for anyone who even officiated an interracial wedding.
1:35.3	It was against this backdrop that Andrew Kinney, a black man, and Mahala Miller, a white woman, decided to get married.
1:47.0	It was November 4, 1874.
1:50.0	Interracial marriages had just become legal in Washington, D.C.
1:54.0	So the kinnies left their home in Virginia, traveled to Washington, and married there.
1:59.0	They spent 10 days on their honeymoon and then returned home as husband and wife.
2:04.5	But it didn't last.
2:06.4	They had been married for just three years when they were arrested and charged with lewd and lascivious cohabitation.
2:14.3	A judge ruled them guilty of miscegenation.
	...

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