NEW YORK – Earlier this month, Mildred Loving died. She was born Mildred Jeter, and she was only 18 when she and her boyfriend, Richard Loving, decided to marry. But first they needed permission. Not from their parents, but from the U.S. Supreme Court.

That’s because Mildred was black and Richard was white. And in 1958, it was illegal for them to get married in a majority of states. Forty-one years ago next month, we celebrate the landmark Supreme Court decision Loving v. Virginia which overturned those laws. But society was slow to change. Interracial couples faced discrimination in employment and housing. Their children were called “mixed nuts.”

So in 1973, a man named Arnold Adoff wrote this beautiful children’s book to celebrate these families. It’s called “Black is Brown is Tan” and it’s written in the beat poetry style of the day: “black is brown is tan is nose is face is all the colors of the race. This is the way it is for us this is the way we are. Kiss big woman hug big man black is brown is tan.”

Well, after the Loving case came down, the Lovings and their children lived a quiet life and all around them the world changed. Now people from different races are marrying in increasing numbers. The couple aptly named Loving made it possible, and taught us that true love is color blind.

–Jami Floyd, In Session anchor